Worst Christmas?

Although it's the season to be jolly and all that, I thought I would share with you a story of my worst Christmas. I'd love to hear some of your anecdotes on the same subject.
My parents divorced when I was about five years old and both remarried so my brother and I had two sets of parents. Unfortunately none of them wanted to be called 'Mum  or Dad'. We had to call them by their first names which was very unusual in those days.
One Christmas when my brother and I were in our early teens they decided we would all spend Christmas together – yes that's right – both sets of parents and my brother and I under the same roof. My mother and stepfather (with whom we lived) provided a turkey, cake and mince pies  whilst my step mother and father were supposed to provide the alcohol and everything else.
You can imagine the atmosphere – my brother retreated to his bedroom and left me to be piggy in the middle  and keep the peace. Christmas lunch we got one slice of turkey and no gravy - my step mother and father didn't like gravy so we had to do without as well. We never saw the pudding, mince pies or cake.
After that the turkey and trimmings vanished and I remember we had to find our way to Chelsea (we were in Kilburn) where my step uncle and his wife were staying with his in-laws in order to get something to eat.
Can anyone top that?

The Duke's Dilemma

This is the large print cover.

This is the original cover.

Out 8th December 2012

I'm delighted with my cover, done as always by Jane Dickson-Smith, and think this new one complements the other five perfectly. What do you think? This book will be out on Amazon weekend just in time for Christmas.
The original cover (it was originally published as "The Ghosts of Neddingfield Hall" by Robert Hale ) and shows a perfect winter's day - very seasonal with the knee deep snow. The LP cover is not one that I especially like -although all the other coves from Ulverscroft/Linford are excellent. Which do you prefer?
I wanted to re-release this title in time for Christmas because it has a winter landscape – ideal for this time of year.I was tempted to ask Jane for a more festive feel to the cover but decided against it – do you think I made the right decision?

Hannah's War & Miss Bennet & Mr Bingley

Available again on Amazon £1.99

Available on Amazon  £1.99

I'm just letting you know that I've re-published Miss Bennet & Mr Bingley and it's available on Amazon. I took it down form Regencyreads and forgot to put it back.

Hannah's War is the second of four WW2 books I've written and is a companion to Barbara's War which was published last month.
I hope you find time to read them both.

Here is the blurb.


World War II brings divided loyalties and tough decisions in this page turning drama from Fenella Miller.
 Hannah Austen-Bagshaw’s privileged background can’t stop her falling in love with working-class pilot, Jack, but Hannah has a secret. Torn between her duty and her humanity, she is sheltering a young German pilot knowing she risks being arrested as a traitor. Hannah’s worst fears are realised when Jack finds out what she has done and their love begins to unravel.
Will her betrayal be too much for Jack to forgive?
Fenella

Rationing and Food in WW2.

As my second WW2 book Hannah's War, is coming out later this week I thought I would post about food in the war years.

At the start of the war ration books were issued and by March 1940 bacon, sugar, butter and meat were being rationed. By the following July, jam, cheese, canned foods and other groceries were added to the list of food that was restricted.

Tis meant housewives had to be ingenious if they wanted to provide nutritious and appetising food to their families. It was easier in the rural areas as families could grow their own vegetables and keep a few chickens. Often there was a ‘pig club’ where several families fattened a pig on their leftover food scraps and then shared it between them when it was slaughtered. Unfortunately the War Ag took half the meat so the families had only one side to share.

The War Ag’s effort to keep the nation healthy paid off and by the end of the war people’s health had improved despite the severe shortages. Farmers produced more food than at any time – before or since – and were able to prevent the population form being starved into submission.

Potatoes weren’t rationed so they became a staple part of the wartime diet. Here is the weekly allowance.

Bacon and ham: 4oz (100g) Meat: To the value of 1s.2d (6p today).Sausages were not rationed but difficult to get; offal (liver, kidneys, tripes) was originally unrationed but sometimes formed part of the meat ration. Cheese: 2oz(50g) sometimes it went up to 4oz (100g) and even up to 8oz (225g). Margarine: 4oz (100g) Butter: 2oz (50g) Milk: 3 pints(1800ml) occasionally dropping to 2 pints (1200ml). Household milk (skimmed or dried) was available : 1 packet per four weeks. Sugar: 8oz (225g). There were one or two ways we could make this go further.  Jam: 1lb (450g) every two months. Tea: 2oz (50g). Eggs: 1fresh egg a week if available but often only one every two weeks. Dried eggs 1 packet every four weeks. Sweets: 12oz (350g) every four weeks

Woolton Pie was popular. It was invented by the head chef at the Savoy and named after the Minister of Agriculture. It consisted of vegetables cooked in pan until soft and then put in a pie dish and covered with potato pastry. Yum! Yum!

There was a recipe for ‘mock goose’ which involved pork stuffing and other vegetables shaped a goose and parsnips stuck on the side for legs. Spam fritters were another favourite as was stuffed marrow and stuffed cabbage.

Amazingly many products around today were also available in the war. HP sauce, Bisto, Birds Custard, Marmite, Smiths Crisps, McDougall’s Flour, Nescafe, Bournville Cocoa, Ovaltine, Weetabix, Kellog’s cereals and Quaker Oats  to name but a few.

Sweets were rationed but some things were still sold – but hard to find unless you could afford to buy on the black market. Cadbury’s chocolate, Terry’s chocolate, Mars, Crunchie, Quality Street, Cadbury’s Milk Tray, Rowntree’s Smarties, Kit-Kat, and Rolo were all around and many with the same wrapper as today. There were also ration bars of Cadbury’s chocolate for 2 1/2d.

There was a war time food experiment done a few years ago where a morbidly obese woman ate only war recipes – the before and after pictures are amazing. She is now an attractive , slim, young woman. There was less fat and sugar in the diet and this was obviously healthier.

 Spam fritters and Mock goose just don’t do it for me.

Fenella J Miller

The Duke's Deception

Fifth 'duke' book - out now on Amazon.

The Duke's Deception is out on Amazon Kindle today. Another great cover from Jane Dixon-Smith.
I have already had to change the file as I had used the same title for the hero. I noticed this and changed it -but then changed it back thinking I'd not yet changed it -if you see what I mean.
Anyway it's fine now - hopefully the five readers who had already bought the book won't mind.
Last month I got my first royalties from Germany, I also sell a few copies most days in France/Spain and Italy -yet to sell a copy in Japan.
Here is the blurb.

Marianne Devenish arrives in Great Bentley expecting to find her great-uncle in residence. Instead she finds The Duke of Wister, Theodolphus Rickham pretending to be Sir Theodore Devenish, a tulip of the ton, more interested in the cut of his coat than in politics.
Unable to stay in a bachelor establishment she moves to Frating Hall, with the permanently impecunious Lord and Lady Grierson. She discovers, to her horror, that Charles, and his younger brother, Edward are involved with the local smugglers. 
Theo's dissembling inevitably leads to misunderstandings and heartbreak and with her reputation in tatters Marianne flees to London. But she is ostracised by society and is obliged to find refuge at Drayton House, a small estate in Hertfordshire. Here her life turns into a nightmare. 
Can Theo catch his spy, save Edward and Charles from the gallows and rescue the woman he loves before she is lost to him for ever?

Hope you enjoy it.

Have a good weekend

Fenella

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The reason I write!

Today I had this e-mail from a  reader. I had to share it with you as receiving letters like this is the reason  I'm a writer. Artists and similar creative people are happy to work in secret -  most writers create their stories for the enjoyment of others. Knowing our work's appreciated is what keeps us working seven days a week.
For most of us it's certainly not the money we earn. :)

Hi Fenella! I just treated myself to 6 regencies of yours over on Fictionwise from Belgrave House!  I notice a few that were up before that I had on my wishlist are no longer available there.  Will you be putting them up elsewhere?Thank you for the wonderful stories you write! Your books are bringing me so much joy and comfort!  Its been a tough time here and to have your books to read has been super! I plan to get the last couple i need from Musa when I'm next able to! (the Doctor titled one. Didn't know I missed it!) I love the Christmas historicals so glad you have out Hartford Hall!You have lots of other historical and regencies and I shall check if they out in ebook and all!  Again thanks for your beautiful writing!

The fifth 'duke' book , The Duke's Deception, goes live at the weekend. I'll post the cover and blurb then.
Enjoy your fireworks.
Fenella

The Duke's Challenge

Published October 2012.

The Duke's Challenge was released last month and is the fourth in my 'Duke' series. The fifth - The Duke's Deception - will be going up on Kindle in the middle of November.


Charlotte Carstairs has no choice but to seek out her estranged grandfather, Lord Thurston, the Duke of Lenster, and ask for his help. Without it she and her siblings will be destitute.
Major Jack Griffin, a disfigured and dissolute Napoleonic war veteran, now holds the title and is determined not to allow Charlotte and her family to remain at Thurston. He offers her an impossible challenge. Charlotte and the children can remain if she can improve the dilapidated house and poor estate withing two months. She has no choice but to accept.
Despite his many faults Charlotte is drawn to Jack. As their love grows there are sinister forces working to ruin their plans. Can they unmask the murderous plotters before they lose everything?

I hope you enjoy reading it. This is one of my favourite stories. I just love an irascible damaged hero who changes after falling in love with the heroine.

Fenella