There is nothing like the power of a good story. Our stories can inspire us, entrance us, enhance our lives and enliven us, for it is our stories that bind us together. We teach through story. We persuade through story. We transform lives and indeed can build (or destroy) lives through the power of stories.
The power of story is something Donna Fletcher Crow, a multi-award winning author of 50 books, understands intimately. Crow's work centers primarily on British Christian history. What sets her work apart is the fact that she is a passionate researcher who engages people and places from Britain's past and present, drawing comparisons and contrasts between past and present for today's reader.
To celebrate the power of story, Donna is presenting readers of all persuasions with a new group of stories that illustrate the universal power of story from three different perspectives:
Trans-Canada Adventure
To develop the background for her sixth book in the Monastery Murder series, 'Against All Fierce Hostility', Donna recently embarked upon a Trans-Canada adventure by train. On her website, she presents an online travelogue that documents her Canadian journey by train, plane, car and boat and treats readers to stunning imagery and richly detailed descriptions. Much like the panoramic content of her award-winning novels, the new blog entries allow readers to vividly share the experience of an excursion across the Canadian landscape. The next installment of the Trans-Canada adventure is available at her website at https://donnafletchercrow.com/articles.php?cat=8.
Disney World Reflections - The Power Of Story
Donna and her husband had breakfast with some Disney princesses at Norway's Akershus castle at Epcot Center on their recent visit to Disneyworld - sans grandchildren. In that Donna is an avid gardener, they also took the time to enjoy a close-up look at Disney's experimental gardens. The full story is available at https://donnafletchercrow.com/articles.php?cat=10.
Books With Christmas Customs
In 'Glastonbury', an epic novel covering 1500 years English Christian history, the Norman section recounts the celebrations of the full Twelve Days of Christmas in a manor house. The festivities include bringing in the yule log and feasting on roasted boar. It all concludes on Twelfth Night when, under the direction of the Lord of Misrule, traveling mummers enact “Saint George and the Dragon.”
Celebrations are considerably more subdued in Puritan homes in her Irish epic 'The Banks of the Boyne'. But rumors of Catholic friends who celebrate Christ’s birth by burning red pillar candles, setting up replicas of baby Jesus in the manger, and enjoying sumptuous feasts are a bitter temptation to a young protestant boy.
'Where Love Restores' depicts an early 19th century Christmas on a great English estate. Festivities include: a fox hunt and hunt ball, constructing an English kissing ring, a midnight Christmas Eve service, and alms-giving on Boxing Day.
In 'Kathryn: Days of Struggle and Triumph', Christmas looks bleak in a pioneer hut in the Idaho desert. Why couldn’t they be in a civilized place where they wouldn’t have to use a sagebrush bush for a Christmas tree? But even the scraggly weed looks better when decorated with strings of popcorn and bows from Kathryn’s quilting basket. And their audacious guest appears more amenable in the companionship of a neighborhood carol sing.
'An All-Consuming Fire' finds Felicity and Antony planning a Christmas wedding in a monastery. The many worship services bring the meaning of Christmas to Felicity in a new way. Still, she manages to find time for such modern English traditions as sharing bad jokes and wearing paper crowns from crackers, eating mince pies and Christmas cake, and taking a long country ramble after the Queen’s Speech. Felicity is as surprised as Crow was, however, by one English Christmas custom—fireworks.
Crow says, “I love stories! Reading stories, telling stories, sharing stories with my readers. I write history because stories from the past inform and strengthen us and help us build a better future. I write history, but I’m really talking about today.”
Crow's entire Monastery Murder Series features atmospheric contemporary crimes with their roots buried deep in the middle ages. Books in the series include 'A Very Private Grave', 'A Darkly Hidden Truth', 'An Unholy Communion', 'A Newly Crimsoned Reliquary' and 'An All-Consuming Fire' and the upcoming 'Against All Fierce Hostility.'
Readers may wish to consider picking up copies of the currently published books in the Monastery Murder series before the new novel is published.
The award-winning 'Glastonbury' is her best-known work, which received the prestigious First Place, Historical Novel, award from the National Federation of Press Women. Readers and reviewers have raved about 'Glastonbury', calling it "The best of its kind," "richly fascinating," "beautifully researched,", "gloriously evocative," and "panoramic." One Amazon reader said, "WHAT a work! Every reader can be enveloped in the sheer scope and quality, every historian be constantly nodding at the precise detail and accuracy, and every Christian can rejoice in the fullness of scripture. For me it is simply beyond descriptive praise. I would urge all who value truth to treat themselves to a feast."
The Daughters of Courage, 'Kathryn', 'Elizabeth' and 'Stephanie' is a pioneer family saga based on the stories of Crow's own family and other Idaho pioneers in the Kuna, Nampa and Boise area. Her current short story “A Nostalgic Fourth of July” is based on a scene from ‘Kathryn: Days of Loss and Hope'.
The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries is a literary suspense series using literary figures as background: Rudyard Kipling in 'The Flame Ignites', Dorothy L Sayers in 'The Shadow of Reality', Shakespeare in 'A Midsummer Eve's Nightmare', and Jane Austen in both 'A Jane Austen Encounter' and 'A Most Singular Venture'. Watch for 'A Prodigious Sum of Corpses: Seeking Sanditon at Jane Austen’s Seashore', which will take the reader to the sites featured in Donna’s current blog series, following the steps of a murderer.
The Lord Danvers Victorian true-crime series is an Amazon bestseller in the British Detectives category. Books in the series include 'A Lethal Spectre', 'A Most Inconvenient Death', 'Grave Matters', 'To Dust You Shall Return' and 'A Tincture of Murder'. Donna provides a no-charge download of 'A Tincture of Murder' for those who sign up for her newsletter. More information is available at her website.
Where There is Love, a 6-book series of the enduring legacy of love and faith, featuring historic people and events of the 18th and 19th centuries.' Where Love Begins', book 1, has just been released in print for the first time. It is the story of Catherine Peronnet whose world is in tatters. Charles Wesley is engaged to another, her brother beaten by an angry mob, and her favorite pupil forced to leave school. Catherine endures the terrors of a circuit-ride, a threatened French invasion and the Great London Earthquake before finding happiness. Other titles in the series are: 'Where Love Illumines', 'Where Love Triumphs', 'Where Love Restores', 'Where Love Shines', and 'Where Love Calls'.
Donna Fletcher Crow's work has received a number of high-level industry honors. These include:
Where Love Begins, Best Historical Romance, Pinnacle Awards 2019
A Lethal Spectre, Best Mystery, Pinnacle Awards, 2019
Glastonbury, First Place, Historical Fiction, National Federation of Press Women Award of Merit
The Banks of the Boyne, Silver Angel; First Place Historical Fiction, National Federation Press Women
The Fields of Bannockburn, First Place Historical Fiction, National Federation Press Women
Professional Achievement Award, Northwest Nazarene College
Juvenile Books Award of Merit, Idaho Press Women
Top Idaho Author
Pacesetter Award, Mt. Hermon Writers Conference
Outstanding Historical Fiction, Idaho Press Women, National Federation of Press Women,
Idaho Writer of the Year
Best Inspirational Novel, Finalist Romance Writers of America
Writer of the Year, Mt. Hermon Writers Conference
Donna is available for media interviews and can be reached by email at donna@donnafletchercrow.com. All of her books are available at online book retailers. More information, including a no-charge download of 'A Tincture of Murder', is available at her website at https://www.donnafletchercrow.com.
About Donna Fletcher Crow:
Donna and her husband live in Boise, Idaho. They have 4 adult children and 14 grandchildren living on 3 continents. Donna is a former English literature teacher and lifelong Anglophile. Idahoans with long memories will remember her as a former Queen of the Snake River Stampede, Miss Rodeo Idaho and runner-up for Miss Rodeo America. She is an enthusiastic gardener.
Contact:
Donna Fletcher Crow
donna@donnafletchercrow.com
https://www.donnafletchercrow.com
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