Helen Steadman (1)
Auteur van Widdershins
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Fotografie: Helen Steadman selfie
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Algemene kennis
- Geboortedatum
- 20th Century
- Geslacht
- female
- Nationaliteit
- USA
- Korte biografie
- Dr Helen Steadman is a historical novelist. Her first novel, Widdershins and its sequel, Sunwise were inspired by the seventeenth-century Newcastle witch trials. Her third novel, The Running Wolf was inspired by the Shotley Bridge swordmakers, who defected from Solingen, Germany in 1687. Helen’s fourth novel will be published on 13 September 2022. This is God of Fire, a Greek myth retelling about Hephaestus, possibly the least well-known of the Olympians. Helen is now working on her fifth novel.
Despite the Newcastle witch trials being one of the largest mass executions of witches on a single day in England, they are not widely known about. Helen is particularly interested in revealing hidden histories and she is a thorough researcher who goes to great lengths in pursuit of historical accuracy. To get under the skin of the cunning women in Widdershins and Sunwise, Helen trained in herbalism and learned how to identify, grow and harvest plants and then made herbal medicines from bark, seeds, flowers and berries.
The Running Wolf is the story of a group of master swordmakers who defected from Solingen, Germany and moved to Shotley Bridge, England in 1687. As well as carrying out in-depth archive research and visiting forges in Solingen to bring her story to life, Helen also undertook blacksmith training, which culminated in making her own sword. During her archive research, Helen uncovered a lot of new material and she published her findings in the Northern History journal.
The Historical Novel Society said of Widdershins:
“Impeccably written, full of herbal lore and the clash of ignorance and prejudice against common sense, as well as the abounding beauty of nature, it made for a great read. There are plenty of books, both fact and fiction, available about the witch-trial era, but not only did I not know about such trials in Newcastle, I have not read a novel that so painstakingly and vividly evokes both the fear and joy of living at that time.”
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Besprekingen
Widdershins is inspired around the 1650 Newcastle witch trials, the main characters are Jane Chandler, who has been using herbs along with her mother since childhood to cure the sick. Jane is accused of witchcraft and her mother was condemned, and John Sharpe and a man whose mother died during birth and his father blamed him and the “witch” who attended the birth and disowned him. John was an awful person, maybe because of the childhood he experienced but he was on a mission to expose all witches and put them to their death.
Witch trials have always fascinated me, what made townsfolk think the women were witches in the first place, the different ways they tortured these women to prove they were witches and how they put them to their death. The trials were pointless because the townsfolk had already made their minds up, without any real evidence.
This was an amazing book and audiobook; Helen Steadman wrote it so very well and the narrator Christine Mackie gave a great performance and she kept me wanted to listen to her.
There was a cliffhanger ending and I am excited to listen to the second book very soon.
… (meer)
Witch trials have always fascinated me, what made townsfolk think the women were witches in the first place, the different ways they tortured these women to prove they were witches and how they put them to their death. The trials were pointless because the townsfolk had already made their minds up, without any real evidence.
This was an amazing book and audiobook; Helen Steadman wrote it so very well and the narrator Christine Mackie gave a great performance and she kept me wanted to listen to her.
There was a cliffhanger ending and I am excited to listen to the second book very soon.
… (meer)
Deze bespreking is geschreven voor LibraryThing Vroege Recensenten.I review a lot of books, so I need to read a lot of books. It isn't as often as I'd prefer that I'm able to slip into the story as easily I was through this one. From the family dynamic of the story and the characters I fell in love with to the wonderful narration by Richard Turner, this book was absolutely a winner for me. It was one of those books I could turn on and instantly feel relaxed, but like any story you get invested in, it eventually had an ending, and I can honestly say it was very difficult to say goodbye to this world.
I wasn't familiar with Helen Steadman before beginning this book, but at this point I have read a few of her offerings already. I can honestly say she excels at writing historical fiction, and while this story is definitely not without its trials and dangers, it's well written and intimate. You follow a German family learning to live in England in the late 1600s and prosper as swordmakers, a dying trade. The familial aspect raises the stakes so much higher. From my memory, nothing in this book felt entirely inconsequential, but some of my favourite chapters are where very little happened. To simply be a part of this family and to live with them over so many years made any problems surrounding them feel more personal.
Some other reviewers have made reference to the time jump to the end of the story every other chapter or so, building an ending early that doesn't feel relevant until the main story is able to catch up, but I actually enjoyed it. At the end of many chapters you're fed another breadcrumb that something will eventually end up happening, and it felt disconnected for so long because you're spending so much time with this family in their earlier years. I thought it was an interesting way to remind you that this whole book is building up to something, and it kept me interested to find out what. As I mentioned, it was relaxing to follow the characters going about their day-to-day lives, but after a while, perhaps it could become redundant. Putting those brief teaser chapters in there was a good balance. They keep the pace moving, but they could probably also be skipped and gone back to read in order at the end of the book, if you would prefer.
I really enjoyed this book, and I would recommend picking up a copy of the audiobook for Richard Turner's wonderful narration. I regret that there isn't more of it, but I'm finding the familiarity I miss from this story in some of Helen Steadman's other novels. I'm a big fan of these historical fiction novels and I'm excited to hear more from her.
Thanks to Helen Steadman and Impress Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review, it was very much appreciated.… (meer)
I wasn't familiar with Helen Steadman before beginning this book, but at this point I have read a few of her offerings already. I can honestly say she excels at writing historical fiction, and while this story is definitely not without its trials and dangers, it's well written and intimate. You follow a German family learning to live in England in the late 1600s and prosper as swordmakers, a dying trade. The familial aspect raises the stakes so much higher. From my memory, nothing in this book felt entirely inconsequential, but some of my favourite chapters are where very little happened. To simply be a part of this family and to live with them over so many years made any problems surrounding them feel more personal.
Some other reviewers have made reference to the time jump to the end of the story every other chapter or so, building an ending early that doesn't feel relevant until the main story is able to catch up, but I actually enjoyed it. At the end of many chapters you're fed another breadcrumb that something will eventually end up happening, and it felt disconnected for so long because you're spending so much time with this family in their earlier years. I thought it was an interesting way to remind you that this whole book is building up to something, and it kept me interested to find out what. As I mentioned, it was relaxing to follow the characters going about their day-to-day lives, but after a while, perhaps it could become redundant. Putting those brief teaser chapters in there was a good balance. They keep the pace moving, but they could probably also be skipped and gone back to read in order at the end of the book, if you would prefer.
I really enjoyed this book, and I would recommend picking up a copy of the audiobook for Richard Turner's wonderful narration. I regret that there isn't more of it, but I'm finding the familiarity I miss from this story in some of Helen Steadman's other novels. I'm a big fan of these historical fiction novels and I'm excited to hear more from her.
Thanks to Helen Steadman and Impress Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review, it was very much appreciated.… (meer)
Deze bespreking is geschreven voor LibraryThing Vroege Recensenten.As a retelling of Greek myths, this is a book I was really excited to read. But I found myself struggling to start it, get into it, and finish it. The overall writing style is a bit stilted and awkward, especially during dialogue scenes. I pushed through it, since I rarely ever put a book down once I start, but this was absolutely not a book for me.
(Note: I received a copy of this book through the Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review.)
(Note: I received a copy of this book through the Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review.)
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Statistieken
- Werken
- 5
- Leden
- 100
- Populariteit
- #190,120
- Waardering
- 3.9
- Besprekingen
- 42
- ISBNs
- 19
Jane is pregnant with Andrew’s child, she’s still making remedies for sick people, she has learnt that Tom is returning home, he was not lost at sea as she once thought. She is stricken because she is now married to Andrew but wants to be with Tom.
On top of that, she has just been warned that John is after her.
I really enjoyed this audiobook just as much as the first, I liked how it continued straight after the first book so I didn’t find that I missed out on anything.
Helen Steadman has written both these completely different characters so well, I have vivid images of both inside my head, what they looked like, what they wore and even the expressions they made at certain points.
I was rooting for Jane to get her to wish and to be happy throughout that I could not stop listening to the audiobook and listened to it in one session!
The end was quite sad but that said the aftermath was very satisfying!
As before, Christine Mackie gave a great performance as the narrator and I definitely want to pick up more audiobooks read by her.
Overall, this has been a fantastic series and I am honoured to have been chosen to be a part of the book tour. Thank you.
… (meer)