In the three bloody years that followed Spain’s military coup in July 1936, there were certainly a small number of women from various parts of the world (Priscilla Scott-Ellis from Britain, for example) who volunteered to serve as nurses on behalf of fascist General Franco’s rebel Nationalists. But on the side of the democratically elected Republican Government there was almost a tidal wave of active support among women from across the … [Read more...]
The Portuguese Revolution – and the Music of “The Lisbon Labyrinth”
Lisbon, 1974. Journalist Jack Telford must hunt down a killer, solve a deadly riddle, renew his acquaintance with an old flame, and survive Portugal’s revolution in this taut thriller with a life-and-death finale, which Jack may survive, but only at great cost. Yet the story of the revolution is, in many ways, also the story of the music from Lisbon and Portugal that brought the country's 40-year old repressive dictatorship crashing to the … [Read more...]
Spanish Civil War – The Ebsworth Connection and a Forgotten Conflict
Whether Francis Crook Ebsworth was truly an ancestor, I’ll never know. But he died fighting for Spanish liberalism, not in the more famous civil war, which took place a century later, but in the carnage of Spain’s First Carlist War, just 180 years ago this month, in 1837. I’d already adopted Ebsworth as my pen name since it originally belonged to distant relatives and one of my cousins was researching that particular branch of the family tree. … [Read more...]
The Lisbon Labyrinth
A Jack Telford short read (novella) written and published while working on Until the Curtain Falls. Lisbon, 1974. Journalist Jack Telford must hunt down a killer, solve a deadly riddle, renew his acquaintance with an old flame, and survive Portugal’s revolution in this taut thriller with a life-and-death finale, which Jack may survive, but only at great cost. There is a dossier, upon which the whole of Portugal’s future may hang, and Jack's … [Read more...]
Sixth Century Britain – Poetry in The Song-Sayer’s Lament
Readers have been asking me about the poetry in The Song-Sayer’s Lament and whether I wrote it myself. I always take such questions cautiously because, of course, you never quite know whether it’s loving or loathing that’s prompted the query. Anyway, hands up. Yes, I wrote it all. But before I get to the poetry itself, maybe a few quick words of explanation. I wanted The Song-Sayer’s Lament to have an authentic 6th Century “feel”, but I was … [Read more...]
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