On Writing Barkerville Beginnings by A.M. Westerling

Some books are easier to write than others and I don’t know why that is. I write historical romance so maybe it’s the volume of research. Or maybe it’s uncooperative characters or a matter of simply not being in the right frame of mind to craft that particular story at that particular time. I struggled a bit with my books A Heart Enslaved and The Countess’ Lucky Charm but Barkerville Beginnings was such a pleasure to write that it almost wrote itself. Let me explain:

As far as the heroine, Rose, I chose her name because that was the name of my accountant’s former receptionist and I liked the historical feel of it. I imagined Rose as a single mother because I wanted to make things as tough for her in Barkerville as I could – single moms were frowned on in those days. I can’t remember how I came up with Harrison’s name but I knew he had to be a Viscount as my tag line is “From Vikings to Viscounts, Join the Adventure, Live the Romance” and up until Barkerville Beginnings, none of my books had a viscount.


As an author of one of the Canadian Historical Brides books, I had to incorporate real people so I did. ie Wa Lee, who gives Rose a job in his laundry, Judge Begbie, (known as “The Hanging Judge” and doesn’t that tweak your interest!), Madame Fannie Bendixon, the hotelier and saloon keeper (who may or may not have run a brothel!) who also offers Rose a job, Dr. Wilkinson who treats the injured leg of Rose’s daughter Hannah, and Wellington Delaney Moses, the barber, because Harrison needed a shave after being out in the gold fields. 

To ensure historical accuracy of the book, I worked with one of historians from Barkerville, a lovely lady by the name of Caroline Zinz, and I hope one day to meet her. 


I’ve been to Barkerville so I wanted to mention the lonely grave you drive past on your way in from Quesnel. Here is Rose’s impression as she passes by:


The wagon slowed as the road neared a fenced grave, enough that Rose could read the headboard: Charles Morgan Blessing.


“Lonely spot to be buried,” Harrison commented and he doffed his hat as they drove past.


Rose nodded. “It is.” A chill tiptoed down her back at the forlorn sight, a reminder of the fragility of life in this wilderness. She craned her neck for one last glimpse before the road twisted away.


I was also quite taken with the wooden sidewalks so of course I had to mention those as well:


Looks like we’ve arrived,” said Harrison as a cluster of buildings came into view. Once again the mules, sensing the end of a long day, picked up their pace and the wagon bounced and rattled down the last little bit of the Cariboo Trail.


Rose hadn’t known what to expect but her first view left her numb. This was Barkerville? The town that gold built? This jumble of wooden, mostly single story buildings tottering on stilts alongside a wide, muddied creek? Surrounded by steep hills stripped bare of trees? How unattractive, brutally so.


The road through town was in poor shape, rutted and puddled with patches of drying mud. In consideration for pedestrians, raised wooden walkways fronted every building like planked skirts. Rose could only conclude the creek must flood frequently. Her poor boots, already soaked through once since embarking on the trip, would certainly be put to the test here.


The closer they came, the more her heart sank. What had she got themselves into?”

Here I am on Barkerville's Main Street and you can see how high the sidewalks are raised because the street used to flood quite frequently.

As an author of historical romance, it’s my job to place my readers in the proper time frame and I hope I’ve accomplished that in Barkerville Beginnings! 

Would you like to read Rose's, Hannah's and Harrison's story? You can find Barkerville Beginnings at your favourite online store here: https://books2read.com/u/bQB6Mv


Or in print at your favourite book store. :) 

The Cariboo Wagon Road by A.M.Westerling

During the early days of the Cariboo Gold Rush in British Columbia, getting there presented a serious challenge to the miners as Barkerville was located 400 miles north and east of Yale. Thick underbrush clogged the mountainous route and some of the mountain passes still had five feet of snow in April. Parts of the journey north were extremely dangerous and horses and their owners would often fall to their deaths over the mountains or drown in the swift and deep waters of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers.


However, the success of the gold fields and the great influx of people made it necessary to improve access. The governor at that time, Governor James Douglas, determined that a safe road was required and the Royal Engineers were engaged for the task. In October of 1861, Colonel Richard Clement Moody recommended that the Yale to Barkerville route through the Fraser Canyon be built for the benefit of the country. The Royal Engineers assessed the route and suggested it be built in sections: Yale to Spuzzum, Spuzzum to Lytton, Lytton to the Lilooet Junction, Lilloet to Fort Alexandria, and Quesnel to Barkerville.

When it was completed, some people called it the "Eight Wonder of the World."

While doing research for the book, my sweetie and I took a bit of a road trip through the Fraser Canyon. You can still see a portion of the original road in the Skihist Campground, just outside of Lytton on the Trans Canada Highway. 

We followed the highway all the way through the Fraser Canyon and stopped to take these photos at the summit of Jackass Mountain. Far below you see the Fraser River.

Rose and Harrison meet on the final section of the road between Quesnel to Barkerville. It was a particularly difficult section to construct because of mud, swamp and fallen trees. 

For more information on the Cariboo Gold Rush, this is a wonderful website: www.cariboogoldrush.com  

You can read all about Rose and Harrison's gold rush adventures in Barkerville Beginnings, available at your favourite online store HERE. 

A Trip to Tucson by A.M.Westerling

Okay, so Tucson doesn’t really have anything to do with Barkerville and the Canadian brides collection other than there was a fair bit of mining in the area about the same time as the Cariboo Gold Rush. Silver and copper mostly and gold later on once Arizona opened up a bit more.


So why Tucson? My sweetie and I head south every March to get away from the Canadian winter. Actually, it’s not that we mind winter so much, it’s that Calgary simply doesn’t have a spring! March is dreary, brown and interminable so although we don’t do the full on snowbird thing, we do spend 5 or 6 weeks touring the southwestern U.S. to get away from it. We don’t plan anything other than we know we’ll hit the I15 which is a straight run south for us. Usually the road is pretty clear but we hit a snow storm this year in Montana. 

Once we reach Las Vegas, we sit and thaw out for a few days then start watching the weather to decide where to go next. It was a cold spring everywhere this year so we drove further south than we usually do and ended up in Oro Valley, on the northern outskirts of Tucson. Tucson is a great spot, with lots of interesting things to see and do plus it’s not a mega city like Phoenix and area which suits us perfectly. 


We tend to visit railroad museums wherever we go and Tucson was no exception. The original train station is right in the heart of the city and has a small museum plus a vintage steam locomotive. 

Why railroad museums? My husband is a model railroad enthusiast and of course I love any kind of history so win win! Anyway, you always discover something new when you’re out and about and imagine my surprise to discover that Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday shot and killed a fellow by the name of Frank Stilwell in revenge for the death of Wyatt’s brother Morgan. Where? In Tucson’s train depot! A bronze statue commemorates the event. That worried look on my face? Those fellows have rifles pointed at me!

Of course I’d heard of both Earp and Holliday which is why it surprised me to learn they’d been in Tucson all those years ago. Little tidbits like that really bring history to life for me and as I stood on the railroad platform, I could just imagine the men laying in wait for Stilwell. I could imagine the horrified gasps and whispers of onlookers, the warmth of the sun on my shoulders, the dry smell of dust, and the slowly spreading crimson stains on Stilwell’s clothes. (You can read more about it here: https://www.historynet.com/stilwell-shooting-near-tucson-depot-called-quick-vengeance-murder.htm)


I did the same thing the various occasions I visited Barkerville. I wandered the wooden sidewalks and imagined the town as it might have been 150 years ago. I imagined the streets crowded with wagons, mules and cattle, the smell of wood smoke, the clang clang of the black smith’s hammer, the thump of boots on the walkways, the shouts of joy from miners who struck it bit, and the sobs and groans from those who didn’t.


Anyhow, as a writer of historical romance and fiction, my goal is to bring history to life for my readers. I try and envision life as it might have been for my characters, a kind of time travel if you will. If I can take you back to a different era, then I feel I’ve accomplished my goal.

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Find Barkerville Beginnings at your favourite online store here:  

https://books2read.com/u/bQB6Mv

A Teaser from Barkerville Beginnings by A.M.Westerling

In today's blog post, I'm sharing the beginning of Chapter Seven of Barkerville Beginnings. In this scene, single mother Rose Chadwick has just arrived in Barkerville with her daughter Hannah and is looking for a place to stay even though she has no money.
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“May I help you, ma’am?”A clerk leaned against the chest-high desk tucked into the corner of the hotel foyer. The man, elderly, with a straggly beard and wearing a rumpled white shirt, appraised her from top to toe. His gaze slid down to Hannah and disapproval stiffened his lip.

“Yes.” She grabbed Hannah’s hand, proceeding to the desk with what she hoped was a purposeful air. “I need a room for the night.”

“Only a couple of rooms left,” he grunted. “You’ll have to share the bed, though.” He pointed to Hannah. “This is a fine establishment. Last bunch we had in here, the kids raised a ruckus, running up and down the stairs, shouting, that sort of thing. People were none too pleased, I can tell you. She better behave or else.”

The hotel must be reputable if other families stayed here, thought Rose. “My daughter is very well behaved.” She clasped her hands, wondering what the man meant by “or else.” It sounded dire.

The clerk continued. “Our guests expect only the best here. That means no noise.” He shoved the register towards her, along with a worn wooden pen and an inkwell. “Fill this in. Rate is seventy five cents per night. Up front.”

“What?” Rose couldn’t believe her ears. The clerk wanted payment now. Not only did she not have a cent to her name, she didn’t even have the chance to have a few days to look for work. She made a show of fishing through her pockets. “I, er, seem to have misplaced my purse. Could I bring you the money when I find it?”

He frowned. “Awfully convenient to lose your purse.”

“Please, I’m sure it’s somewhere in my carpet bag.”

He folded his arms. “No payment, no room.”

Desperate, Rose searched for the words that might persuade him to change his mind. She twiddled the braided gold band on her left hand. The wedding ring that had belonged to her mother. She looked at it, swallowing hard then pulled it off. “How about if I give you this for now? It’s gold. When I find my purse, I can pay you properly.”

“If it’s money you want for gold, go to the assay office down the street. Or the bank.” He pointed.

“Please, my little girl is hurt. We’ve had a long day. Could you give us the night? I’m sure I can find my coin purse. In the meantime, you can hold on to my ring.”

He looked at her long and hard, as if scouring her face for any hint of dishonesty. Rose waited, stomach churning like a swirling eddy on the Fraser River.

“All right. It’s not regular, mind, but you seem like a nice lady. I’ll expect to see you in the morning.” He tucked the ring in his vest pocket.

“Thank you.” At least they would have a comfortable place to sleep tonight. She dipped the pen in the inkwell and signed her name. It was only a hotel room.  Why did it feel as if she signed away her life? Maybe it was the veiled threat he uttered over Hannah’s behaviour that unsettled her so.

Or maybe it was the fact she had no money and had just given away her most cherished item.

“What brings you to Barkerville?” Business complete, the clerk became chatty. He patted the pocket where her ring nestled.

“I, er, we’re meeting my husband. He’s a miner,” she added.

He cocked his head. “A miner? Didn’t he know you were coming?”

His implication was clear – what kind of man wouldn’t arrange for accommodation for his own family?

“No. I wanted to surprise him. We’re not supposed to come until later in the week but the trip upriver went a lot faster than expected.” Another lie that flew easily from her lips. She would have to figure out how to redeem herself, she thought wryly. Bald faced lying was not a particularly good habit to cultivate.

“Anyone I know? A lot of miners come here when they’re in town.”

Rose froze and she stared at the man. “Er, Chadwick. Mr. Harrison Chadwick,” she blurted. Goodness, now how did Harrison’s given name slip off her lips so easily?

The clerk’s eyes narrowed and he tapped a gnarled finger on the desk. “Hmph. Can’t say that I know him.”

Because he doesn’t exist, thought Rose. How soon would it be before anyone realized that?
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Intrigued? Are you wondering how Rose manages to wiggle her way out of this scrape? You knew the sales pitch was coming *wink* and find it at your favourite online store HERE.

What About Love by A.M.Westerling

February is the month of Valentine’s Day and love. By now, another February 14^th has come and gone but it’s got me to thinking. There are many kinds of love other than – cue the violins and enter Cupid - romantic love for a partner. We love other people in different ways. There’s the love between a mother and her children. The love good friends have for each other. The love we have for siblings and other family members, even the furry ones like my grand dogs, Tilly and Arlow.

But we can love inanimate things as well. A beautiful sunset. A walk on the beach. A favorite sweater. A good book. Then of course there’s the love of good food and I am firmly in that camp. Cooking to my mind combines a number of loves – love of preparing the food itself, love of good healthy eating, even the love of exercise because cooking usually means a lot of standing and walking around. I also love decorating the table because it’s all part of the experience. And in the end, the reward – sitting down to eat with cherished family and/or friends surrounded by a cloud of love. A while ago, one of my boys commented on the fact that most of our family pictures are of us sitting at the dinner table. I rest my case. 

They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach but I think women appreciate fine food as well. In Barkerville Beginnings, one afternoon Harrison buys Rose and Hannah fresh bannock with huckleberry jam and they have a picnic beside the creek. I came across this bannock recipe and thought you might enjoy it. I've never tried making bannock, let me know how it turns out!

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups water

Directions

1. Measure flour, salt, and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir to mix.
2. Pour melted butter and water over flour mixture. Stir with fork to make a ball.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead gently about 10 times. Pat into a flat circle 3/4" to 1" thick.
4. Cook in a greased frying pan over medium heat, allowing about 15 minues for each side. Use two lifters for easy turning. May also be baked on a greased baking sheet at 350° F (175° C) for 25 to 30 minutes.

Recipe courtesy of: https://www.bettertogetherbc.ca/recipe

You can find Barkerville Beginnings at your favourite online store HERE. 

Favorite Christmas Traditions by A.M.Westerling

The 25^th of every month is my day to blog here at the Canadian Historical Brides Blogspot. You know what that means – today is Christmas Day. Without further ado, I would like to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and hope you’re having a day filled with love, happiness and good food! I know you're busy today so if you want to opt out now and stop by  again later, that's just fine. Otherwise, read on!

My family has a couple of traditions. The first is listening to Perry Como’s Christmas album entitled Home for the Holidays and it was always the first album we played when we decorated the tree. My younger brother converted it from LP to digital and gave us copies one year as Christmas gifts. I still love it and make sure to play it over the holiday season.

The other tradition is giving out chocolate letters in the initial of your first name. My mom carried that one on for years and now that she’s older and no longer able to manage it, I’ve taken it over for my own kids. Dark chocolate, not milk chocolate is our preference. Seeing as how I'm a romance writer, I will add that these two just got engaged to be married! Congratulations to my son Kevin and his fiancée Kate. :)

And that’s it for today’s post, short and sweet. I do wish you the very best for 2019! 

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Are you looking for something fun to read over the holiday season? How about reading about Rose, Harrison and Hannah and their adventures in Barkerville, British Columbia, Book 4 in the Canadian Historical Brides collection?

Find it here at your favorite online store.

Wedding Memories by A.M. Westerling

My goodness, I had to haul out our wedding pictures to come up with ideas for today’s post and what a lovely trip down memory lane it turned out to be! My sweetie and I met in a ballroom dancing class at the University of Calgary. I took the class to learn how to ballroom dance, he took the class, as I found out later, to meet girls. Mission accomplished, I suppose, as here we are 40 years later and we’re still together. Our family has grown as we now have two wonderful sons and two lovely daughters in law.

We got married a week after final exams which meant a) we were broke and I had to beg Revenue Canada to get my tax return in time to fund our honeymoon and b) my mom did most of the wedding planning. We had a small ceremony, immediate family only, in fact the group was so small everyone ended up sitting in the choir loft of the church. Here I am on the way to the church with my dad.  

Our best man borrowed his parent’s car to drive us – honking the horn the whole way and I don’t think that’s done anymore – to the wedding dinner after the ceremony. Apparently confetti sprayed out of their heater for months afterward. 

Our reception was held at the Romeo and Juliet Inn (yes, that was the name and how romantic is that!) which no longer exists but at the time was quite the fancy place as they had a live band and dancing. Seemed appropriate, seeing as that’s how we met. Anyway, there was one other couple having their wedding reception there the same day – May 6 – and they stopped by to say hello and wish us all the best which of course we reciprocated. It would be interesting to know how their marriage turned out. Here is our first dance as Mr. and Mrs. 

We enjoyed a wonderful 6 course Italian meal but to tell you the truth, we couldn’t wait to hit the road for our honeymoon. We left the party about 10 and found out later my in laws shut the place down some time well into the wee hours of the morning.

We spent our first night in the Banff Springs Hotel, the same hotel mentioned in Brides of Banff Springs, Book 1 in the Canadian Historical Brides Collection. Much to our chagrin, we realized we hadn’t booked a double bed but instead had two twins. We pushed the beds together because where there’s a will, there’s a way *wink*…It was kind of a waste of money because we didn’t check in until well after midnight and we were on the road by 8 am the next morning. Ah, to be young and not need to sleep. We have since stayed at the Banff Springs to make up for our wedding night.

We were in such a hurry to cross the border we ended up with a $35 speeding ticket before we left Canada which meant we spent our first couple of days in the U.S. trying to figure out how to pay for it as we knew we would be away longer than 30 day payment period. This was before the days of on line banking so it took some scrambling on our part, not to mention a large chunk of our honeymoon fund.

Anyway, my parents lent us their car, a 1976 Pontiac Sunbird and we went on a 6 week road trip down to Scottsdale where friends of my husband’s parents let us use their condo for 2 weeks. And actually, last year by coincidence we ended up driving over the Navajo Bridge in Arizona which we remembered having done on our honeymoon but couldn’t quite remember where it was. It's closed to traffic now but you can walk over it.

Then we headed over to San Diego where we spent a fabulous evening at a piano bar and up to San Francisco where we treated ourselves to a delicious dinner on Fisherman’s Wharf. Then we worked our way back up the coast through California and Oregon which is still one of our favorite road trips.

We ran out of American money somewhere in Oregon and drove non stop until we hit the border south of British Columbia. Once we were back in Canada, we had $20 Canadian, enough money to buy a bit of food and a case of beer. Haha, priorities!

As a wedding gift, my husband’s grandmother gave us a Royal Copenhagen porcelain figurine of a couple dancing. 

Nowadays we'll dance occasionally, sometimes even in the living room when a good tune comes on and we can still rock it! The cover of Barkerville Beginnings shows Rose dancing with Hannah on Rose and Harrison’s wedding day. 

You can buy Barkerville Beginnings at your favourite online store HERE. It is also available in print on Amazon or through your local bookstore. 

Surprising Facts about Barkerville by A.M.Westerling

At the height of the Cariboo Gold Rush, Barkerville was the largest settlement north and west of Chicago. Estimates put the population there as high as 10,000. Now what’s surprising to me about that is that even today, with the advent of paved all weather roads, motor vehicles and air travel, Barkerville is remote. It’s situated in central British Columbia between two major inland centres, Kamloops and Prince George. Once you reach Quesnel,(about halfway between those two) it’s still an hour’s drive east to reach the ghost town. Vancouver at that time had only a few thousand residents so picture how uninhabited the western part of Canada really was compared to now.

Imagine thousands of men and women traveling by paddle wheeler, stage coach, horseback, wagon, on foot, whatever means they had up the Fraser River and east into the mountains to reach a gold rush town in the middle of nowhere. The lure of gold was such that the Royal Engineers built the Cariboo Road, which some considered at that time to be the 8^th wonder of the world.  I posted a picture of it in my post last month but I'm posting it again - so much traffic traveled this road that today, 150 years later, you can still see signs of it. 

Another interesting fact I unearthed is that the men (mostly) and women who peopled the area were law abiding, peaceful citizens. They wanted law and order, they wanted a hospital and doctors. They wanted services such as restaurants, theatres, dancing halls and stores. At the end of the day, it was the merchants who provided these services that made the money, not the gold miners.

If you're interested in learning more about the Cariboo Gold Rush, this is a terrific website: 

www.cariboogoldrush.com

Barkerville Beginnings is Book 4 in the Canadian Historical Brides Collection. You can find it HERE at your favourite online store.

Find all the Canadian Historical Brides Books HERE at your favourite online store.

If I Could Travel Back in Time by A.M.Westerling

Gosh, that’s a tough one because to tell you the truth, I would love to visit every time period that I’ve written about. And, to a certain extent, I have.

I’ve visited castles in Luxembourg and The Netherlands. I’ve seen a bit of the Cariboo Road and strolled down Barkerville’s Main Street. (Below is St. Saviour's Anglican Church at the end of Main Street and below that is a picture of the original Cariboo Road just outside of Lytton, British Columbia.)

I’ve visited Ribe, a Viking village in Denmark. 

Ribe and Barkerville are living museums and that’s a kind of time travel without the inconvenience of actually having to deal with the not so nice aspects of historical life ie the smells, questionable personal hygiene, lack of sanitation, no modern medicine, no central heating. etc.

Having said that, I’ve never been to England and would love to visit London during the Regency period, roughly 1800-1820. I’d love to attend a proper ball and drive in a fancy carriage through Hyde Park. I’d love to visit a dressmaker and walk out with a fashionable new wardrobe. I’d love to attend the theatre or spend an afternoon at Almack’s in one of my new dresses. I’d love to spend a weekend at a house party in the country and wear an elegant riding habit. (I would ride astride, not side saddle, just to be scandalous!) I’d love to be the lady of the household with a personal maid to dress me and an army of servants at my beck and call. (Okay, okay, so I’m the lady of my own household but I am the maid and I am the servant army and I dress myself. 😊 )

I’d love to ride along Rotten Row and spend an afternoon watching the horse races at Ascot wearing some sort of stunning hat crafted by the best milliner London has to offer. And all of this, of course, accompanied by a dashing Duke or perhaps a Captain of the Royal Navy resplendent in his blue uniform.

And after experiencing all that, I would be quite happy to return to my own time and my own life. 

Would you like to experience a little time travel of your own? How about reading Barkerville Beginnings, or any of the books in the Canadian Historical Brides Collection? You can find it HERE at your favourite online book store. 

The entire Canadian Historical Brides Collection is available HERE.

Here's what readers are saying about Barkerville Beginnings:

"I really enjoyed “Barkerville Beginnings”, from the very first page I was hooked. I found the story very immersing and appreciated how Ms. Westerling wrote so vividly that I felt like I was right there in the story with each of the characters; seeing and experiencing everything that they did.

A few years ago I worked for Barkerville and have a fairly good knowledge of its history and the townsite as it stands today. With this understanding of the townsite I feel like Ms. Westerling did a very good job of portraying the town, the history, and bringing to life some of the more prominent figures who lived in Barkerville, including judge Begbie and Moses, the town barber. I also found it very refreshing that she didn’t just incorporate the European history that is typically covered, instead there was an incorporation of the Chinese history and their contributions to the town included and given as much merit as any of the businesses that were owned and run by the white town folks." Crystal B.

"As someone who has lived my whole life in British Columbia, and has visited ALL of the cities and towns mentioned (with the exception of those in England) in this work of historical fiction, I was satisfied and delighted with the careful attention to factual detail that was expertly woven into the story." Discerning Reader 

 

I really enjoyed “Barkerville Beginnings”, from the very first page I was hooked. I found the story very immersing and appreciated how Ms. Westerling wrote so vividly that I felt like I was right there in the story with each of the characters; seeing and experiencing everything that they did.

A few years ago I worked for Barkerville and have a fairly good knowledge of its history and the townsite as it stands today. With this understanding of the townsite I feel like Ms. Westerling did a very good job of portraying the town, the history, and bringing to life some of the more prominent figures who lived in Barkerville, including judge Begbie and Moses, the town barber. I also found it very refreshing that she didn’t just incorporate the European history that is typically covered, instead there was an incorporation of the Chinese history and their contributions to the town included and given as much merit as any of the businesses that were owned and run by the white town folks.

Why I Write Historical Romance by A.M.Westerling

It’s pretty simple, actually – I love history and I love romance. The love of romance is a slam dunk – who doesn’t love a Happily Ever After?! But what is it about history that’s so appealing to me?

I suppose my appreciation of history started with the fact I grew up on the Alberta prairies where most of the cities and towns are new by historical standards and were built within the last 150 years. Certainly there are native artifacts ie teepee rings, buffalo jumps and petroglyphs and pictographs that date from thousands of years ago but other than that, there simply isn’t anything old here.

Then the summer I turned 15, my family and I visited Europe. My grandmother’s 80^th birthday plus visiting other relatives in the Netherlands were the main reasons for the trip but my parents made sure we did a fair bit of touring. What an eye opening experience it turned out to be! I loved visiting the museums and old churches and it amazed me as I stood in these buildings that hundreds of years ago, people stood in the very same spot. What did they do? What did they think? How did they live their daily lives? I really felt a connection to the past.

We saw some glorious sights that trip like the Cathedral of Notre Dame and the Sacre Couer in Paris, and the palace in Versailles. One of the places we visited that really stands out for me, though, was the Castle of Vianden in Luxembourg.

There’s an opening in the middle of the solar floor that looks down into the main hall. I remember standing there while visions of beautiful maidens and gallant knights on horse back swirled through my mind. How romantic!

But let’s face it, there’s a lot to be said for modern plumbing, central heating and modern health practices. (Me visit a dentist one hundred years ago? No thanks!) However, you can visit times past through the pages of a book or a website and imagine how it used to be. 

I still love visiting historical sites. My long suffering sweetie has come along with me while I’ve checked out fur trading forts like Fort St. James in northern B.C, Fort Whoop Up in southern Alberta, and the hills of Custer’s Last Stand in Montana. We’ve visited Brigham Young's summer house in St. George, Utah, driven to old pueblos in New Mexico and visited Indian ruins in Arizona. 

Custer's Last Stand, the hill where he died.

Brigham Young's summer home

We've visited places in Europe too numerous to name, although I will share a couple. We spent a lovely day wandering through the Viking village of Ribe plus spent two nights in Falsled Kro in Denmark, a 16^th century inn (!) all in the name of research. Haha, now that was a tough job, let me tell you. *wink*

Falsled Kro

Researching my novels for me is a fun past time and I love how it gives me story ideas. For example, in A Heart Enslaved, the hero Thorvald plans to sell his slave Gisela and use the money to clear his name of a crime he didn’t commit. Through my research I discovered that in Viking society, criminals could pay restitution to their victims and therefore be cleared of any wrong doing. For The Countess’ Lucky Charm, I learned a bit about the North West Company and the early fur trade in Canada. In Her Proper Scoundrel, I discovered Bristol and its place in the slave trade. 

Find A Heart Enslaved HERE, Her Proper Scoundrel HERE and The Countess' Lucky Charm HERE  , all at your favorite online store.

Barkerville Beginnings was more personal for me as I’ve visited Barkerville a couple of times and I could really picture it in my head. As a living museum, the gold rush town really came to life and as I researched, I could place people and shops, hotels, etc. within the actual setting. 

Here I am on Barkerville's Main Street

Find Barkerville Beginnings at your favourite online store HERE.