The Pirate Coast

The southern Turkish coast, north of Cyprus, is rugged and wild. The Taurus Mountains in the background rise high and jagged, sending everything tilting down towards the sea at a sharp angle. The whole region is fragrant with pinewoods and myrtle. The bright green slopes, the dazzling blue sky and the turquoise and deep lapis of the sea create a rich background to life here. The sun shines on at least three hundred days of the year.

 This area has been inhabited since very ancient times.The ancient entrance to the Underworld, where the River Styx flows, can still be visited [by the intrepid] near the little town of Kizkalesi.You can hear the mainly underground river roaring along as you descend into the grotto, which quickly becomes dark and slippery. This is the Cave of Heaven [Cennet in Turkish]. A little further up the hillside is the chasm of Hell [Cehennem]. Prisoners to be punished were cast down into this horribly deep maw. The only way to get in - or out - alive, is on a rope....

The river reaches the coast at Narlikuyu, and flows into the sea after passing through the Greek and then Roman bathhouse with its mosaic of the Three Graces. This is now a one room museum, opened up as required when tourists arrive.

To preserve the mosaic, the water has been diverted back underground at this point [very close to the sea]. It is said that bathing in the water of this river keeps you young. In olden days the pirates put into the bay to take on supplies of this fresh water where it flowed into the sea. Now the rivermouth is firmly in the middle of an open air fish restaurant, where it is the main attraction.

Pirates are only seen on Sundays when they run hour long boat trips from Bohsak Bay or Tasucu Port along the coast to Tisan and back. Of course, any other activities are kept as secret as ever.

Book Launch for APRIL AND MAY

This story has some links to events in my own life. The heroine has a family home in Caversham [where I lived as a student] and where I came back to live after a number of years abroad. She also goes to Constantinople, a city I have visited often. The only difference is that I love it and she prefers London.
She then returns to Caversham....

This launch was a very enjoyable party and the laughter and the interaction of my guests was very gratifying. Oh, and I sold quite a few books. I hope everyone enjoys the story. Waiting to hear about that.
Well, actually, there have been some positive comments already.

APRIL AND MAY My new story is published

The cover of my new story [published on 31st May] shows sunset over Constantinople.


It is May 1804 and Tom Hawkesleigh is engaged on urgent secret business for the Sultan. The last thing he needs is for three English ladies to arrive at the embassy, demanding help, especially when he finds that one of them is Rose, the girl he has been trying to forget.

Rose is no better pleased to meet up with Tom, the man who abandoned her.

But life in Constantinople is bewildering and dangerous. And the Sultan's chief minister, Kerim Pasha, draws Rose into the secret plan. Danger follows even when Rose returns to London. Tom is desperate to help but she remains fiercely independent. Yet, underneath, as she discovers what drove Tom away four years previously, all her barriers come down. But by this time it may well be too little too late...
Istanbul [as Constantinople is now called] is a magical city and one I've been visiting for over forty years. One day, while crossing the Bosphorus in an 'ordinary' ferry boat, I saw a small wooden caique with red and gold cloth draped over the cabin and being rowed by a dozen sturdy young men in traditional costume with sleeveless red jackets. It's a tourist attraction and costly, but it must be a wonderful experience to glide from Europe to Asia in such a way. Of course, I had to make use of a caique in my story.

Having a Turkish husband, I've been fortunate to experience much hospitality in many homes and many different regions of Turkey. I've tried to convey the sheer kindness of the welcome they give to visitors.

Romance Panel

On Wednesday evening, 2nd June, five members of the Reading RNA Chapter formed a Romance Panel in Reading Library to talk about our writing and answer questions. Of these five published authors, two write historical and three write modern romantic fiction.

Julie Cohen, Beth Elliott, Tania Crosse, Janet Gover and Nina Harrington faced a packed audience full of goodwill and eager to ask how we find our ideas - and more importantly, how we find a publisher. Other areas of interest were what is involved in writing a good sex scene and how do we go about research for each new novel.

With so much interest and so many ideas to share the time went by far too quickly for all of us.

Another piece of the jigsaw of writing and publishing

This is my dear friend Seyda, who until her retirement worked extremely hard as an English teacher in Adana, Turkey. She taught in a Science Academy, where the students were high-flyers and went on to study medicine, engineering, etc. They needed to be fluent in English before starting a university course, so the standard was very high.

Seyda's two daughters were also high-flyers and grew up learning to speak good English as well as studying very hard in all their subjects. In fact, Arzu, her elder daughter, has been teaching English at Bosphorus University in Istanbul for a number of years. Arzu has also found time to research translation, a subject she finds endlessly fascinating. At present we are waiting for her to finish her PhD on a related area. Already she has brought out this book, which casts new light on the role - and manipulation - of translating texts from one language into another.

Fans

The most common fan in the 18th Century was the folding variety based on Chinese models. Unlike their Asian counterparts, however, European fans had elaborately carved and decorated sticks, made of ivory, mother-of-pearl, horn, wood, and tortoise shell. Fan leaves were made of vellum and paper and were both hand painted and printed.

A Vernis Martin fan of the early Eighteenth Century.


In 1709, Sir Richard Steele commented in The Tatler that "the fan is the armour of women" and "the men's minds are constructed by the waving of that little instrument...our thoughts in composure or agitation according to the motion of it".

The language of the fan could be understood by both sexes and was an important means of communication. A quick gesture conveyed a silent message that could escape the attention of a chaperone or a jealous spouse. Thus, drawing the fan across your left cheek indicated 'I love you' or letting it rest on the right cheek meant 'yes'. Touching the tip of the fan with one finger meant 'I wish to talk to you' but holding the closed fan with your little finger extended meant 'goodbye'. There is a long list of what the various gestures mean - no wonder the gentlemen were in 'composure or agitation' at social gatherings as they sought to decide their ladies' mood on that evening.

It was considered acceptable for a gentleman to offer a fan as a gift to a lady, perhaps at Christmastime. Many of these were works of art, with pierced and gilded ivory or mother of pearl sticks and guards, and delicately painted leaves of paper, embroidered muslin or lace.  

Click on this link : The language of the Fan  

to be taken to a charming video on the language of the fan by 

author Brandy Vallance 

                                     

Blond horn brisé hand fan with steel dots applied. It is a typical exemple

 of the early decades of 19th century.

St George's Day

Today is a bright sunny day, and the trees are covered in clouds of pink and white blossom or else tender pinkish and palest green leaves. The gardens are bright with tulips and violets. A perfect English Spring day to celebrate St George.

It's amazing how very universal he is. Images of George slaying the dragon can be found all the way from England through the Balkans into Greece, Turkey, Syria and beyond. There is a link to the routes taken by waves of crusaders but maybe St George is popular everywhere for being a warrior and a hero. What could be more romantic?

He has also become entwined with local customs and legends, so that he is associated with a variety of traditions. On Buyuk Ada, the largest of the Princes' Islands close to Istanbul, there is a monastery dedicated to St George [Aya Yorgi ] on top of the highest hill. On 23rd April, any girl who wants to find a husband, will walk up the final kilometre barefoot, unwinding a reel of cotton as she goes. If her cotton is long enough and does not break before she reaches the church on the hilltop, she will get her husband within the year.

PS After reaching the church and going in to light a candle, examine all the pictures and hangings and writing a wish to put in the wish box, everyone heads off to the open air restaurant on the very crown of the hill. It's a fact that a simple meal here tastes like the finest feast, due to the fresh air, the sense of achievement at getting to the top and the splendid views across the sea to Istanbul in the distance.