Books by Fran Kempton
The Devil’s Tune
Fran Kempton
Naples 15—Carlo Gesualdo, prince and composer, murders his wife and her lover in the palace of San Severo. The murders cause a sensation throughout the courts of Europe. The deed is witnessed by the wife’s devoted maidservant, Laura Scala, who vows revenge on the prince. Laura’s own troubled past haunts her as she travels from […]
Books by Jean Burnett
Who Needs Mr Darcy?
I once heard an agent say that there was no female equivalent of the picaresque novel –those tales of men in former times having adventures everywhere, swashing their buckles and wowing the ladies. There were obvious reasons for this. Women did not get about very much in past eras and their behaviour was circumscribed. […]
Scandal in the Sun
The sequel takes up where the first book ended. Lydia is en route to Brazil as a lady-in-waiting to an Austrian princess. After a very long sea voyage she joins the highly eccentric Portuguese court in Rio where she attracts the attention of the heir to the throne, Dom Pedro. After many adventures and a […]
A Victorian Lady in the Himalayas
Take a look at this wonderful account of a trip to remote Ladakh in 1896. I edited and compiled the book based on the recently discovered diaries of a Victorian traveller. Maria Caroline Bolitho was a Cornishwoman who made the journey on horseback (in winter) over the Himalayan passes. They were tough in those days![…]
Vagabond Shoes
You are never too old for a gap year and this book relates my year as “the world’s oldest backpacker” -my daughter’s description. I wanted to channel the Victorian lady explorers who were so intrepid and who wrote some very amusing accounts of their expeditions (often unintentionally). I jumped from Europe to India to the[…]