{"id":880,"date":"2017-11-20T00:01:12","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T05:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.ca\/wp02\/?p=880"},"modified":"2017-11-18T17:59:08","modified_gmt":"2017-11-18T22:59:08","slug":"house-ladywell-nicola-slade-crookedcat-extract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.ca\/wp02\/2017\/11\/20\/house-ladywell-nicola-slade-crookedcat-extract\/","title":{"rendered":"THE HOUSE AT LADYWELL by Nicola Slade #CrookedCat #extract"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ladywell\"<\/a>THE HOUSE AT LADYWELL<\/span><\/h1>\n
by<\/span><\/h5>\n

NICOLA SLADE<\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"LADYWELL\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Genre: <\/strong>Contemporary romance with historical interludes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Release Date: <\/strong>14th<\/sup> November 2017<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Publisher: Crooked Cat Books<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A hare carved in stone and the scent of flowers in a house full of echoes \u2013 can Freya\u2019s inheritance help her to leave the past behind?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Had I gone completely crazy that first day? To open the door, take one astonished look round, and decide on the spot that I would live there?<\/p>\n

To fall in love with a house?\u2019<\/p>\n

When Freya Gibson inherits an old, run-down property she has no idea she is the last in a long line of redoubtable women, including the Tudor nun who built the house. Unknown to Freya these women, over centuries, fought with whatever weapons came to hand \u2013 deception, endurance, even murder \u2013 to preserve their home and family.<\/p>\n

Freya falls in love with the house but her inheritance includes an enigmatic letter telling her to \u2018restore the balance\u2019 of the Lady\u2019s Well. Besides this, the house seems to be haunted by the scent of flowers.<\/p>\n

In the past the Lady\u2019s Well was a place of healing and Freya soon feels safe and at home, but she has demons of her own to conquer before she can accept the happiness that beckons.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>**********<\/span><\/h2>\n

EXTRACT<\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2018Something I\u2019d failed to mention to anyone: not to Louise, not when I was enthusing to Patrick, and certainly not to the helpful solicitor, was the letter that had been waiting for me on that first day.<\/p>\n

Beside the front door stood a small table on which sat an old walkabout phone in a base station, and two envelopes, one large and the other letter-sized. The smaller envelope was addressed to me.<\/em><\/p>\n

The handwriting straggled shakily across the page and the contents of the letter startled me.<\/p>\n

\u2018When you were born I knew you were the one. Before anything else you must go into the garden and pick some flowers. It doesn\u2019t matter what you pick: in winter look for leaves, rosemary or winter jasmine, but if it\u2019s summer pick simple flowers \u2013 a rose, a sprig of yellow broom, nothing fancy. Pick what you can and weave them into a wreath made from the rowan tree \u2013 you\u2019ll know it by the wooden bench underneath. Hang it on the hook inside the front door. <\/em><\/p>\n

When that\u2019s done, say the words written below, making sure you\u2019re alone. My grandmother had the verse from her own grandmother and so on. I expect the words have altered over time but the spirit remains the same. Show reverence when you do these things but do this first of all. You must not delay.<\/em><\/p>\n

You must restore the balance.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

It had been a sleety February day, with flowers few and far between but I persevered, driven by the sense of urgency in the letter. I found secateurs in the kitchen. The rosemary was easy, a great, straggling bush standing sentinel by the path, with yellow winter jasmine spread against the wall. In a sheltered spot I found a clump of snowdrops and, to my delight, a primrose or two.<\/p>\n

I had to stand on the bench to snip a couple of pliable twigs from the rowan, and back in the house I bent them into a makeshift circle and threaded in the flowers and leaves. Still under the compulsion I\u2019d felt on reading the letter I stood on a chair to hang my creation on the waiting hook.<\/p>\n

Saying the words Violet had written made me pause.<\/p>\n

\u2018It sounds like a spell,\u2019 I half-whispered, hushed by the strangeness of it all. Was Violet a witch? Wasn\u2019t this all complete nonsense? I read the words again and summoned up my rusty Latin vocabulary, almost forgotten since \u2018A\u2019 Level. \u2018Domina <\/em>means lady; something about water? And leporum \u2013 <\/em>rabbit? No,\u2019 I corrected myself. \u2018Lepus <\/em>is a hare, and benedic<\/em> \u2013 any kind of blessing can\u2019t be bad.\u2019<\/p>\n

There was something about the place that I couldn\u2019t explain. I felt safe and \u2013 odd as it sounds \u2013 wrapped in loving arms. The house was filled with a friendly silence and I felt comforted for the first time in ages. What harm could it do to obey Violet\u2019s last instructions when she given me this precious gift?<\/p>\n

I took a deep breath and bowed my head before the ring of twigs and flowers, not in prayer but in a kind of grateful submission, as I quietly murmured the Latin words, stumbling over a rough translation in my head\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BUY LINKS<\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

AMAZON UK –<\/span><\/strong> http:\/\/amzn.to\/2iprcIs<\/a><\/p>\n

AMAZON US –<\/span><\/strong> http:\/\/amzn.to\/2j2t3Cz<\/a><\/p>\n

**********<\/span><\/h2>\n

ABOUT NICOLA SLADE<\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"LADYWELL\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nicola Slade had her first short stories published in her early twenties and wrote for children and for women\u2019s magazines while her three children were growing up.<\/p>\n

Nicola\u2019s books are all set in Hampshire and include the romantic comedy, \u2018Scuba Dancing\u2019, and two cosy mystery series. The Charlotte Richmond books set in 1858 feature a young widow with a shady past and a habit of stumbling over the occasional corpse and the contemporary Harriet Quigley mysteries, featuring a retired headmistress and her cousin and sidekick, the Rev. Sam Hathaway.<\/p>\n

Nicola lives in Hampshire with her husband, and as well as writing she belongs to a local art workshop; among other things she has been a Brown Owl and an antiques dealer.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Facebook:\u00a0 <\/strong><\/span>https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nicolasladeuk\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter<\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span> @nicolasladeuk<\/p>\n

Blog: <\/strong><\/span>www.nicolaslade.wordpress.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Website: <\/strong><\/span>www.nicolaslade.com<\/a><\/p>\n

**********<\/span><\/h2>\n

GIVEAWAY<\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

AN ECOPY OF THE ART OF MURDER X 2<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"ladywell\"<\/a><\/p>\n

a Rafflecopter giveaway<\/a>
\n