Book Title: Their Castilian Orphan

Series: The Castilian Series

Author: Anna Belfrage

Publication Date: 23 March 2024
Publisher: Timelight Press

Page Count: approx. 400

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romantic Historical Fiction, Historical Romance

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Book Title & Author Name:

Their Castilian Orphan

by Anna Belfrage

Blurb:

It is 1294 and Eustace de Lamont is back in England after five years in exile. He will stop at nothing to ruin Robert FitzStephan and his wife, Noor d’Outremer.

Robert’s half brother, Eustace de Lamont, has not mellowed during his absence. He is more ruthless than ever, and this time he targets Robert’s and Noor’s foster son, Lionel.

Lionel is serving King Edward as a page when Eustace appears at court. Not only does Lionel become the horrified witness to Eustace’s violent streak, Eustace also starts voicing his suspicions about Lionel’s parentage. The truth about Lionel’s heritage is explosive—should King Edward find out, all would be lost for Robert and Noor.

In October of 1294, Wales rises in rebellion. Robert must leave his family unprotected to fight the Welsh rebels on the king’s behalf, comforted only by the fact that Eustace too is called to fight.

Except that Eustace has no intention of allowing his duty to his king—or a mere rebellion—come between him and his desire to destroy Robert FitzStephan . . .

Every time I say goodbye, I die a little

It is hard to write the last book in a series. After so many years with daily interaction with my characters, the journey is over. Not that my characters’ lives are—they have new adventures to look forward to, new challenges to address—but I am no longer steering their fate.

This, of course, is where things get really, really difficult, because I am, by nature, curious, and as I love my characters, I want to know what happens next. In one of my series, The Graham Saga, curiosity had me sticking with my protagonists well into their sixties, and boy, was that an exciting ride! Doing so with medieval characters, like Robert FitzStephan and Noor in Their Castilian Orphan, is somewhat more dangerous, in that death was a constant companion in times as fraught with conflict as the last decade or so of Edward I’s reign.

Thing is, as a writer one needs to be true to the period. Noor has so far survived all her childbirths—but the probability of her dying next time is high. Robert has suffered injuries, some very severe, but he is still alive. But what if Edward I calls on him to serve in his Scottish campaign? I gulp at the thought.

People who do not write find the attachment writers develop for their characters amusing—and  a bit strange.
“They don’t exist,” people tell me.
Huh: they sure exist in my head and heart! They live and breathe, they have flaws and virtues. I know that Robert has a fondness for cheese, that Noor knows the name of every single ewe in her flocks and that Robert’s best friend, John the Gascon, is more than adept with needle and thread. I know little Alonso has a voice that will carry him out into the world and that Father Alain has a son he has never seen. So yes, to me they are real.

When I first started writing The Castilian Saga, my intention was to write one book. One, set against the backdrop of Edward I’s conquest of Wales in 1282/3. I have so far never managed to write only one book—all my stories expand into series—so I should not have been surprised when I reached the end of His Castilian Hawk only to immediately begin the sequel, The Castilian Pomegranate. But while writing the second book, I took a conscious decision not to expand the series beyond the events of 1294/95. Why that cut-off date, you may ask? Well, that is because in 1294, Wales exploded into a massive rebellion, surprising the English. I wanted to write about this, especially as the rebellion coincided with the French stealing Gascony from Edward I.

The king, to put it mildly, was not a happy bunny in 1294. He’d not been a happy bunny since late 1290 when his beloved wife, Eleanor of Castile, died. Writing Their Castilian Orphan gave me an opportunity to portray this somewhat terrifying king, now an older man afflicted by gout—and loneliness, because apparently he held himself to the memory of his dead wife.

Obviously, no one is going to tell me Edward I didn’t exist, and I love having my fictional characters interacting with the IRL peeps of their time, which is why Roger Mortimer of Chirk also plays a central role in The Castilian Saga. My Roger Mortimer is probably far more sympathetic than the real deal—this, after all, is a man suspected of having drowned his two Welsh wards to claim their lands—but people have many facets, and while Roger may have been horribly ruthless and callous towards others, to Robert FitzStephan he is a loyal friend.

Writing those final pages of Their Castilian Orphan meant not only saying farewell to Robert, Noor, their family and extended household. It also meant waving bye-bye to my interpretation of Edward I and Roger Mortimer. (Although Mortimer plays a central role in the first book of my series The King’s Greatest Enemy. In In the Shadow of the Storm, my Roger is pushing sixty and is the loyal supporter of his nephew and name sake, Baron Roger Mortimer who rebelled against Edward II.)

It is hard to let go, peeps. It is hard to lie awake at night and wonder if Noor and Robert will ever leave their home again only to hear Robert chuckle and tell me they’re off to Castile.
“What?” I sit up straight in bed. “To Castile?”
“Aye. The king has requested we travel there to offer his aid to Queen Maria, now that her husband is dead and her nefarious brother-in-law is threatening her and her son.”
That, dear peeps, changes everything! No way am I letting Robert and Noor set off on such an adventure without me, no way! Or maybe I should: maybe I should take a deep breath and let them go, wishing them well.
I sink back into my bed and close my eyes. In my head, new characters whisper new stories, while Noor blows me a kiss before taking her man by his hand  and walking away. And yes, seeing as I am utter romantic, of course they walk off into a glowing sunset, surrounded by their children and that horribly ugly dog, Goblin.

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Author Bio:

Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with three absorbing interests: history, romance and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17^th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14^th century England. Anna has just released the final instalment, Their Castilian Orphan, in her other medieval series, The Castilian Saga ,which is set against the conquest of Wales. She has recently released Times of Turmoil, a sequel to her time travel romance, The Whirlpools of Time, and is now considering just how to wiggle out of setting the next book in that series in Peter the Great’s Russia, as her characters are demanding. . .

All of Anna’s books have been awarded the IndieBRAG Medallion, she has several Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choices, and one of her books won the HNS Indie Award in 2015. She is also the proud recipient of various Reader’s Favorite medals as well as having won various Gold, Silver and Bronze Coffee Pot Book Club awards.

“A master storyteller”

“This is what all historical fiction should be like. Superb.”

Find out more about Anna, her books and enjoy her eclectic historical blog on her website, www.annabelfrage.com 

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