Thank you for joining me today I have a great guest post where C.J. Bentley talks about her book The Shield.
First of all though let's take a look at the description for the book...
People lose their
belongings. That is a fact of life. It can happen by accident, but sometimes it
can happen when you put them in a very safe place and forget where that safe
place is. Not many people are good at finding them again.
A young, gutsy girl with a kind heart, who’s
searching for her own identity growing up in the 1960s, just happens to be very
good at finding things. Can she be the one to help return whatever is lost –
anywhere and at any time - to its original owner?
With the help of a beautiful
yet mysterious wise woman and a chivalrous knight she does just that. She finds
and returns his shield, lost in battle, which unbeknown to her holds a secret
that is important to his King, the safety of the Kingdom and the life of the
daughter of his best friend.
The Shield is the first story in The
Finder Series, taking our heroine on extraordinary journeys back in time. Her
first adventure takes place in Medieval England in 1340 where she meets King
Edward III, his wife Philippa and their son, who will later become the Black
Prince.
Buy Link
The Finder Series – Book 1 ‘The Shield’
Basically each book in the ‘Finder Series’ follows the same
format. An item is lost, when and where
it is lost and by whom is all revealed in the Prologue.
In the first book,’ The Shield’, a shield is lost in battle by
a knight, Sir Kay, during the reign of King Edward the third in Medieval
England in 1340AD, a little historical information about this time is given at
the back of the book. The majority of
the book is set in York, again information at the back for those who have never
been lucky enough to visit York, a very beautiful and historical city in North
Yorkshire.
The main protagonist in each book starts in the first book
as a ten year old girl growing up and trying to find her own identity during the
nineteen sixties. She is a gutsy girl
with a kind heart and a quick mind, she doesn’t hesitate to help people, it’s
the way she has been raised by her parents who don’t mind that she changes her
name almost weekly to suit which book she is reading, or which television
programme is her favourite. They love
her and support her unusual habit of name changing, they treat it as something
she needs to do and respect her for it, (apart from the older sister in her
family who just thinks it is weird).
She is told by another main character, the beautiful and
mysterious wise woman she has a destiny to fulfil. As a ten year old girl she is not altogether
sure what a destiny is, and is not convinced she wants one to fulfil, but she
does like to help people and therefore finds herself in situations during different
times of history with people she is there to help. The wise woman features in all of the books
in the ‘Finder Series’. She is
responsible for the girl’s travelling back through time and openly admits they
will meet many times, (not sure how many books it will take to fulfil the
girl’s destiny, I am currently writing book four, ‘The Ring’ where she finds a
ring belonging to an Arabian princess and where she is taken back to the Middle
East and travels with Ibn Batutta, who was a lesser known adventurer and
intellect who travelled even more extensively than his better known adversary
Marco Polo).
With the backdrop of the swinging sixties, with experiences
of school, favourite subjects, teachers, music and important issues of that
time, the main character is evolving as a person along with her friends in ‘the
gang’. Their characters are all very
different but they do share the same loyal values. The freedom they have as children growing up
in a time when they could take a picnic and play out of doors all day, having
to be back in time for supper with the family, something unavailable for some
children growing up in cities, in this relatively new century. They bike ride, swim, build dens, tree swings
and even make fires, all outside from dawn until bedtime, usually nine thirty during
the long summer holidays. As they grow
throughout each book they support each other in different ways and their
changing characters are explored as they mature. The main protagonist ‘finds’ life skills
during each time she visits. In ‘The
Shield’ she discovers she can speak French, the English court at that time
spoke French as the King owned lands in France and a lot of his time was spent
there. She also finds an ability to ride
horses, something she couldn’t do in the sixties. Her interest in History grows as she does,
her aspiration to become an Archaeologist is something which remains with her
as she attends school each year and I hope she attains her dream. (It is something
I will have to wait to find out as I progress with writing each book).
Certain historical facts researched form the background for
this story and certain facts just fell into place. Edward the third and Queen Philippa were
married at York Minster in 1328 and their son Prince Edward was born at the
English Court in Woodstock, (now the site of Blenheim Palace) in 1330, making
him the same age as the girl. The Battle of Sluys where the English Navy were
victorious against the French did take place, (it is recorded as being in June of
1340, I slightly bent the time to fit my story to July).
The inspiration for this story came from my finding, whilst
fishing in the local stream with a friend, a shield in the silt at the bottom
of the beck. Because of the weight and
there being only two of us we chose to put it back. That experience has remained with me until living
in Doha, I had time to spare to write about what might have happened if we had
withdrawn it fully from the silt and carried it home. Later this year having discovered from my
sister that the fields from my childhood remain, my family and I are going on a
shield hunt! It would be pretty awesome
if we could locate and discover what had inspired me to write this story.
Watch this space!
Originally heralding from the North of England, C.J Bentley has travelled
extensively and enjoyed living in a variety of countries across the world from
Dubai to Doha, Qatar and now the countryside in the South of France. A
background in teaching and childcare she has always enjoyed creating adventure
short stories. However, it was when she became a grandma and with her
grandchildren growing up that she
discovered that books seemed to contain only stories of vampires, zombies and
farts that she decided seriously to take matters into her own hands and put pen
to paper which today she calls The Finder Series.
Author Links
Website - https://www.cjbentleyonline.co.uk/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/CJBentleyAuthor/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/CJBentleyAuthor
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