Book Title: The Herb Knot  

Series:  n/a

Author Name: Jane Loftus 

Publication Date: May 8^th, 2025 

Publisher: HQ Digital 

Pages: 336 

Genre: Medieval Historical Fiction 

Any Triggers: Domestic abuse / violence (not much, but two short depictions), implied sexual assault, attempted murder, actual murder.

Twitter Handle: @cathiedunn @marylschmidt

Instagram Handles: @janeloftusauthor @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #HistoricalFiction #medieval #Winchester #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/07/blog-tour-the-herb-knot-by-jane-loftus.html

Book Title and Author Name: 

The Herb Knot

By Jane Loftus

Audiobook Narrator: Matt Addis 

Blurb:  

The Hundred Years’ War comes to life in this spellbinding tale of love, betrayal and conspiracy … 

A quest born on the battlefield will change a young boy’s destiny… 

Rafi Dubois is five years old when his mother is murdered after the Battle of Crecy in 1346. Alone and lost, Rafi is given a token by the dying Englishman who tried to save his mother’s life: a half-broken family seal which he urges Rafi to return one day to Winchester. 

Years later, when Rafi saves a wealthy merchant’s wife from a brutal robbery, he is rewarded with the chance to travel to England, taking the seal with him. 

But when he reaches Winchester, Rafi finds himself in a turbulent world full of long-held allegiances, secrets and treachery. His path is fraught with danger and with powerful enemies working against him, Rafi falls in love with Edith, a market apothecary. But in doing so, Rafi unleashes a deadly chain of events which threatens to overwhelm them both… 

The Herb Knot is a sweeping and passionate novel set in one of the most tumultuous times in English history, from a powerful new voice.

Wot, no monarchs?

If, like me, you grew up on Jean Plaidy novels in the 70s, you’ll remember that she did a book for virtually every King and Queen of England, with a few extras thrown in. They seem very dated now although they did ignite that spark of interest in history which has never gone away.

Things have moved on, although there is still a focus on the main, high ranking characters in The Wars of the Roses, and of course, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn remain perennial favourites, and rightly so.

I had heard that publishers prefer a bit of name recognition if you’re positioned in the medieval era. It did give me pause for thought when I decided to write a novel without a single monarch or prince or princess in it (other than a very brief reference to an Earl, one I expect hardly anyone had any gossip on). But there are enough historical novels about ordinary people which are popular – the works of Karen Maitland, Carolyn Hughes – which convinced me to stick to my guns. I’d chosen ordinary people doing, on the whole, ordinary things and I didn’t want to change that and I was grateful that the book got taken up despite the lack of fancy characters.

Even so, novels about ordinary medieval life are still scarcer than Tudor or even Stuart ones and I realised I was taking a commercial risk. But since that was never the motivation for writing in the first place I decided not to care.

Why did I stick to the medieval era, despite having an academic background in Renaissance and Tudor / Stuart history? Well, it was a case of write what you love regardless (not that I don’t love Tudor and Renaissance novels, or Stuarts, or 18^th Century, or ALL OF THE HISTORY, because I do!). Also, since I’d never studied the medieval period, I really wanted to learn something new and for that reason alone it was worth the effort. Even if the book had never seen the light of day, the research and the study, at my great age, was really fun. Yes, you heard that right from the woman who used to virtually live in the political history department as a student. Social history suddenly turned out to be, much to my surprise, fun.

I’d assumed that all the stereotypes presented in films and the more flowery novels of ye olden dayes must have a basis in truth. Poor hygiene, everyone drunk because they couldn’t consume water, dull, drab colours, yet none of this was the case. Schoolgirl error. I think the thing which most took me by surprise was the sheer amount of colour people threw on their walls. Obviously not if they were extremely poor, but a merchant or a trader with a few coins to spare would be flinging all sorts of crazy at the interiors of their living space, not to mention places of worship. I then spent far too much time peering at the sparse evidence of colour in churches and medieval houses whenever I got the chance, looking for any sign of red or green or yellow. I never got thrown out, thankfully.

The effort made to make soap, too. I spent hours watching videos of scientists turning ashes into lye and then into soap, amazed at how they’d worked it out. Whilst I’d also known a little about herbalism, and that some herbal remedies have since lent themselves to the pharmaceuticals of the modern age, I had no idea as to the extent of it.

Suddenly I began to haunt medieval fairs, talking to virtually every single person at Evesham, for instance, feeling their clothing (they didn’t seem to mind) and fully intend to keep doing so.

I think what this means is that I’m going to keep reading novels of a more political history slant. I very much enjoy them, there are some great writers out there and I devour historical novels of all periods and hope never to stop. But I’m not sure I’ll be writing them, unless it’s about someone very obscure.

But next time I pick up that novel about Edward IV and watch him ride off to Tewkesbury, I’ll be wondering if he’d washed behind his ears with lye soap that morning.

Buy Link: 

Universal Buy Link:  https://books2read.com/u/bzN6Z2

Author Bio: 

Jane Loftus gained a degree in 16th Century European and British history from Surrey before taking a postgraduate degree in modern political history. As a lone parent, she worked in Winchester Waterstones before returning to IT once her son was older.

Hugely passionate about the Middle Ages, she drew inspiration for this novel from the medieval layout of Winchester which has been painstakingly documented.

Jane is originally from London but has lived in Winchester for over twenty years. When not writing, she is usually out walking or watching costume dramas on Netflix – the more medieval the better. She also plays far too many rpgs.

Author Links: 

Website: https://janeloftus.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577760507961

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janeloftusauthor/  

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Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B0F3Q52X9Y

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/29357528.Jane_Loftus