A tale of war and witchcraft … plots and playhouses … love and loyalty.
Charles the Second’s attempt to reclaim his throne ends in a crushing defeat at Worcester. With only the clothes on their backs, Ashley Peverell and Francis Langley flee to Paris where Ashley, known to some as the Falcon, resumes his secret work for the King.
Beautiful and street-wise, Athenais de Galzain has risen from the slums of Paris to become the city’s leading actress … but along with success comes the attention of a powerful nobleman, accustomed to taking what he wants.
Ashley and Athenais are drawn together with the force of two stars colliding. Ashley has two priorities; to guard the King from a plot hatched in London … and to protect Athenais from the man who would destroy her. Both will test him to the limits.
The King’s Falcon follows the Cavaliers’ last crusade and poverty-stricken exile whilst taking us behind the scenes in the playhouse. There is danger, intrigue, romance … and more than one glimpse into darkness.
Well deserved, Stella!
Having grown up in a French-speaking country and found nourishment at the tables of Corneille, Racine and Molière, I particularly enjoyed your depiction of mid-century French theatre.
Researching French theatre of the period was one of the pleasure of Falcon. But I was sorry Moliere was still ‘on tour’ so I couldn’t use him. He’s a favourite of mine.
Nice! Congrats! Always look forward to your books. Keep ’em coming! 🙂
Thank you, Lorie. I’m currently doing the final tweaks to Under a Dark Moon before sending it out to be proof-read and on to the beta readers – so hopefully it won’t be long!
Congratulations! The King’s Falcon is one of my favourite of your civil war novels, Stella, and I am greatly hoping that you will be able to get it made into an audiobook, with the incomparable Alex Wyndham doing the narration, of course. I’m possessing my soul in patience, though, and will just have to dig the physical book out of the book case for another read.
Thanks, Paddy. As you may have seen in an earlier reply of mine, I’ll be trying to set dates with Alex for Falcon and hoping to get it done some time in the spring. But there’ll be Brandon Two as well very soon so it’s going to be a matter of juggling the two.
Congratulations again, Stella! I always liked the small glimpses you gave us of Ashley in the earlier R & C books so thoroughly enjoyed Falcon. And Francis proved much more interesting. Even Eden has improved! I think only his story has yet to attain B.R.A.G. status, but may be mistaken as I haven’t checked back? All your books deserve it anyway. I’m looking forward to Adam’s story and will we get 2 books this year? Midwinter Magic was brilliant, but keep yourselves well; I’m glad to be living in a fairly safe part of NZ, and crossing my fingers and toes that my favourite authors with unfinished series all survive! There aren’t that many of you.
I haven’t submitted either Garland of Straw or Lords of Misrule for consideration at BRAG yet, Margo. And Misrule will need a new cover before I do. It’s the only one of the R&C books that hasn’t had a make-over yet. Trouble is, I need Anna to get to grips with Under a Dark Moon first – and that’s going to be a particularly tricky one. Glad you’re safe. Things are really bad here – truly awful death figures daily. Only hope is the vaccine and as yet it isn’t getting to parts of Kent – including Sandwich.
Congratulations on another splendid achievement. One of my all-time favorite book series!
Thank you, Marianne. Will be trying to get the audio into production soon, depending on how Alex is fixed.
Congratulations! Lovely to have another of your wonderful novels recognised. Keep well and keep writing, Stella!
Shar
Thank you, Shar. Brandon Brothers 2 (Under a Dark Moon) is almost finished – just a few final tweaks, then it’s off to the beta readers and proof reader. Huzzah!
I love all your books, I have them on my kindle so I can read them again and again, I also have them as audio books so when I am crafting I can listen to them in order. Question ? why is there no audio version of The Kings Falcon and Lord of Misrule, all your books are read by Alex Wyndham who has a great audio voice which makes all the difference to a book, can you look into this.
Getting the audios done takes time, Susan and Garland of Straw was only released last August. It’s also extremely expensive. Are you aware that I’m an independent author? However, I’ll be talking to Alex about Falcon and trying to set up dates in the next few weeks – but much depends on his schedule.
Thank you for that, something to look forward to . I have the book and audio of Midwinter Magic and was saving it to read when I go on holiday but in the present climate I think I will be reading it soon at home.
Yes. I suspect that very few of us will be going anywhere for some time to come. Sadly.
Congratulations!
Thank you very much, Amanda!