As we approach the Winter Solstice, the sun seems to stand still for the shortest day before changing direction, although the earth actually tilts around the sun. The days leading up to it were known as Saturnalia in Roman times, marking the moment when the sun was reborn after the shortest day and longest night. To celebrate the occasion and to welcome the coming of light, most people left aside their work to enjoy as much merriment and feasting as possible.
To mark these dark days and nights before Christmas, the e-book of my full-length novel, Midwinter Masquerade, is FREE to download from 16th to 20th December. This Regency intrigue novel is set at the Winter Solstice in Scotland of 1816, in the 'year without a summer', one of the coldest and darkest at that time.
Midwinter Masquerade
Edinburgh, December 1816: young widow Lady Lenora Fitzallan accepts an invitation to the country estate of Edward Montgomery, the man she once thought to marry seventeen years previously. Until he left without explanation.
Accompanied by her godmother, Lady Pettigrew, Lenora forms a friendship with Edward’s young niece and ward, Annabelle, who has a propensity for getting into scrapes and falling in love with the wrong man.
As the Masquerade Ball approaches at the Winter Solstice, the past unravels, the villain is unmasked and Lenora must decide with whom her future lies.
It’s not too late to sign up for Beth Kempton’s wonderful online Winter Writing Sanctuary which she’s offering free this year - scroll down on her page to find the registration.
The Writers' and Artists’ Short Story Competition 2024 is now open until 12th February. It’s free to enter and the theme is ‘risk’, for up to 2000 words.
I wish you a very Happy Christmas, or however you celebrate this winter season.
Rosemary x