For the next three days (April 16-18), award-winning historical fiction writer, Jan Selbourne, is offering her newest book. The Woman Behind the Mirror for 99 cents on Amazon! That’s a real bargain for a book you’re sure to love! In fact, it’s my current favorite Jan book. 😉
You might know, Jan’s Lies of Gold won Coffee Pot Book Club’s Silver Award for 2019. With The Woman Behind the Mirror, I see more awards in her future. At any rate, that’s the future and Jan writes about history. The Woman Behind the Mirror starts in 1775 England, but quickly shifts to Boston where the American Revolution is rumbling into being. What happens to Sarah Forsythe has to be read to be believed!
Blurb
Betrothed by her father to a man twice her age, Sarah Forsythe does the unthinkable—she escapes her arranged marriage and runs away with the son of a Methodist minister. Not to Gretna Green, to colonial America—the New World. For Sarah, a “new world” of broken promises, abandonment, poverty and shame. Around her, the American Revolution is quickly developing and the siege of Boston worsens by the day. As British soldiers seek out traitors and treason, a desperate Sarah breaks open a safe looking for cash. Instead, she finds a box holding Bank of England documents. Through willpower, bitter determination, and lying through her teeth, Sarah manages to make her way home to England. What she doesn’t know is that two men follow, and they will do anything to claim those documents.
Bank investigator Neil McAlister faces an almost impossible task—to determine the true owner of the documents by deciding who is lying. Most of all, as danger creeps ever closer, he needs to know who wants the secretive, beautiful Sarah dead.
Excerpt
Legs shaking, Sarah walked downstairs to face her furious father and white-faced mother.
“I cannot believe your wilfulness, your complete lack of propriety,” her father said icily. “You deliberately encouraged”—he frowned at her mother—“what was his name?”
“David Langford.”
“You encouraged this penniless nobody behind my back, knowing I have approved and accepted Mr Gerald Whitehead’s offer of marriage.”
“Papa, Mr Whitehead is over forty years old!”
“A mature man of independent means with homes in Norfolk and London. Now sadly widowed, he needs the comfort of a wife and mother to his children.”
Sarah’s fingers clenched. “His children are almost my age.”
Her mother spoke. “Albert dear, I do think Sarah and Mr Whitehead should be given more time to become better acquainted.”
Her father pointed his finger at her mother. “I hold you responsible for giving the girl far too much freedom. I can only pray Mr Whitehead does not hear of this shameful cavorting while he’s attending to business affairs.”
“I was not cavorting with David,” Sarah said hotly. “We met at the church fair when mama presented prizes for the best puddings. We were never alone, not even when Eliza and I showed David and Freddie the country dances because the Methodists don’t approve.”
Her father’s eyes had turned slate grey, filling her with fear.
“I am sorry papa. I will do whatever you bid.” She held her breath waiting for a hand across her face or worse.
“You will not leave this house until the banns are read.” Albert Forsythe strode from the room, slamming the door behind him.
Her mother touched her arm. “You have made papa very angry.”
Sarah’s eyes met her mothers. “If he beats me again, I will leave, David or no David.”
“Sarah! You are under-age and cannot defy papa. You know it is his fervent wish to see you and your brothers well set up.”
“You mean Peter’s commission and Robert’s year in London will cost papa a lot of money. Mr Whitehead’s offer of marriage relieves him of more financial burden.”
Her mother’s mouth fell open. “That is a dreadful thing to say.”
“Mama, please, Mr Whitehead is ugly, and I cannot bear him near me.”
“Your father will provide a generous dowry,” her mother said quietly. “Do not defy him or we all suffer.”
“Yes mama, excuse me mama,” Sarah’s eyes blurred as she climbed the stairs again to her bedchamber. Closing the door, she sat at her dressing table and as she stared at her reflection her resolve grew. A glance at the closed door and she sharpened a quill and began to write. Signing the note S, she rang for her maid.
“Go to the Methodist manse. This letter must be handed to Mr David Langford and no one else.”
“Yes miss. I will, miss.”
Sarah put two shillings in her hand. “Not a word to anyone and you may have the rest of the day off.”
The maid blinked at half a week’s pay in her hand. “Thank you miss.”
When the door closed, Sarah’s knees turned to water. They’d talked about it, they’d held hands while declaring their love for each other, and now it was a frightening reality. She sat by the window as the minutes turned into one hour, then another hour and then her heart thudded in her chest. David, wearing a cloak and hat pulled low over his forehead rode past the front gates and placed a small sprig of leaves on the railing. He’d received her message.
Jan
Jan Selbourne was born and educated in Melbourne, Australia and her love of literature and history began as soon as she learned to read and hold a pen. After graduating from a Melbourne Business College her career began in the dusty world of ledgers and accounting, working in Victoria, Queensland and the United Kingdom. On the point of retiring, she changed course to work as secretary of a large NSW historical society. Now retired Jan is enjoying her love of travelling and literature. She has two children, a stray live in cat and lives near Maitland, New South Wales.
Author links:
Website: https://nomadauthors.com/JanSelbourne/index.html
Blog: http://nomadauthors.com/blog
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JanSelbourne
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jan.selbourne
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14661584.Jan_Selbourne?from_search=true
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Jan-Selbourne/e/B0184OSZ6E/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/h8t2y6
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-selbourne-2817b6140/
What’s in an Award? Maybe just what you need to keep going.
contest and then won?
Series: Sea of Love
Book: 
won awards with their work (but were to shy to say so here). Some writers there maybe haven’t won an award award, but they’ve received recognition for their writing in other ways, through great sales or love notes from their fans and such. An award doesn’t matter that much in the long run. It’s the love of the readers and the joy of being able to do what we love. Those are awards enough.
While Australia is no stranger to bushfires, this season was unprecedented with out of control fires in every state and territory from September 2019 to February 2020. When our fireys were stretched to the limit, their brothers-in-arms from America, Canada, Singapore and New Zealand arrived to help. We were overwhelmed by the support, donations and prayers from around the world but what we needed was rain. And we got it when Mother Nature decided to turn on all her taps. Some drought-stricken areas received more rain in a few days than they’d had in two years. Sydney had flash flooding after weeks of being shrouded in smoke.
some other places received. The huge Warragamba Dam which supplies 5.2 million people in the Greater Sydney Area rose from just 43% to over 60% in 24 hours, and the rain didn’t stop. We watched the news showing ecstatic farmers splashing in water streaming through their properties and the faces of little children who’d never seen puddles. A man holding a glass under his overflowing water tank and gleefully drinking the contents with, “bloody good, mate.”
Jan Selbourne was born and educated in Melbourne, Australia and her love of literature and history began as soon as she learned to read and hold a pen. After graduating from a Melbourne Business College her career began in the dusty world of ledgers and accounting, working in Victoria, Queensland and the United Kingdom. On the point of retiring, she changed course to work as secretary of a large NSW historical society. Now retired Jan is enjoying her love of travelling and literature. She has two children, a stray live in cat and lives near Maitland, New South Wales.
The Sweetest Magic of All – Alice Renaud
uncle’s mysterious death. He knows the guilty party is there at the B&B but he doesn’t know that the inn is spelled with magic by the owner, a witch. Alice has a dream of running the B&B with rooms that treat guests to a fantasy that matches the room’s theme—adventure, spa, etc. Each night Brodie has a dream matching the room’s theme, each day he’s moved to another room. His dreams all end with a gorgeous woman, and of course, each room leads him directly to Alice. This was a cute story with an imaginative twist. And Brodie’s uncle? So many things are not what they seem!
Dream Catcher – Callie Carmen
though. Ever wonder why things don’t go perfectly in life? Why nothing seems to fit? That’s how Rachel Finlay feels until she discovers photos in the house of her recently passed aunt. Then a thought niggles and tickles. Maybe there’s a reason things don’t fit in this time. Maybe it’s because of events in a past time. Love it!!
So that’s my evaluation of 
about writing this one?
An Awareness of Evil – Dee S. Knight
Dream Catcher – Callie Carmen
Love that Binds – Carol Schoenig 
The Sweetest Magic of All – Alice Renaud
with a beautiful seductress until the British government sends him on a spying assignment. The deadly mission sees Adrian and his family running for their lives through a war-torn Europe. On the perilous road to home, a web of spies and assassins surround them on all sides. As the danger grows, Adrian finds himself more drawn to the lovely Gabrielle. A nightmare of betrayal and brutality follow them as Adrian risks everything to get his family back home.
Men and women of the armed forces deal experience desire and love pretty much like everyone else. Except, well, there is that uniform. And the hard-to-resist attraction of “duty, honor, service” as a man might apply them to a woman’s pleasure. All things considered, romance among the military is a pretty sexy, compelling force for which you’d better be armed, whether weighing anchor and moving forward into desire, dropping anchor and staying put for passion, or setting a course for renewed love with anchor home.
We all remember our firsts in life; first kiss, first love, first sexual experience. Black Velvet Seductions present a collection of eleven short stories, from eleven great writers, on the subject of First Submission within a Domination and submission relationship. The authors are from different backgrounds across the world and have written a broad spectrum of stories on such diverse themes as straight, gay, BDSM, domestic discipline, age play and multiple partners. A red hot read of wide ranging sexy stories to thrill and tantalize! Discover the authors and their stories on the 
policeman and so much more. There’s a little erotic romance for everyone, including ménage, BDSM, spanking, and… Well you’ll have to see for yourself on the 
Creative Commons) For this act, the equivalent today of taking 10£, she was sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment in Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania Australia, the sort of triangular-shaped island off the southern coast of Australia). The 13,000 miles journey on the convict ship Hope took approximately three months.
Tasmania, now seen as a beautiful island and a vacation destination, was not viewed with much hope when it was one of the harshest penal colonies in a land of penal colonies. There are stories of convicts choosing almost certain death by escaping into the bush because death was better than life
in the colony. If they weren’t recaptured, they died due to lack of skills and the deadly snakes or other wild animals in the bush. Still, taking a chance against the huge tiger snakes was seen as better than the horrible floggings they suffered otherwise. Eleanor fared better than some.
know when Bridget left Van Diemen’s Land for the mainland or why she moved on to western New South Wales but there, aged 25, she married Richard, a bullock driver.
slivers of hand-made soap on top. After the clothes boiled for a few minutes they were pulled out with a copper stick and heaved into the rinse trough. Many a naughty child’s backside felt the whack of the copper stick.