What draws you to a historical fiction book cover? 

Welcome to my monthly historical fiction cover competition. I hope you find some new books and authors for your ‘must read’ list. If a cover interests you, just click on the link to learn more about the book.

My June winner is:

The Marigold Chain by Stella Riley

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Stella’s covers are always sumptuous and this one is particularly gorgeous. The colours and mix of images are a delight. Congrats Stella!

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2018 B.R.A.G. MEDALLION HONOREE

England, 1666; the year when people who take prophecy seriously believe that the world is going to end.

For Chloe Herveaux, marriage to wild, unpredictable Alex Deveril offers escape from a home she hates. For Alex, waking up with an epic hangover, the discovery that he has acquired a bride is an unwelcome shock. But while the marriage remains in name only, other forces are gathering.

England is once again at war with the Dutch and Prince Rupert suspects that sabotage is at work within the fleet. Instructed to find and stop the traitor, Alex enters a dark labyrinth of intrigue – where no life is safe and nothing is what it seems.

Chloe, meanwhile, navigates the shark-infested waters of Charles the Second’s Court and plots a course of her own aimed at financial independence. But as the intriguing facets of Mr Deveril’s personality are gradually revealed to her, Chloe’s mock-marriage becomes fraught with difficulties – the greatest of which is Mr Deveril himself.

Absorbed in his search for a traitor, Alex spares little thought for his bride. But as the flames of the Great Fire sweep over London, Alex and Chloe face their ultimate test. Their world is at risk … their choices may save it.

To find out more, please click here

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As always, it was difficult to choose. Here are some other wonderful covers to tempt you!

Lady Caroline (Callie) Sutton has known Nathan, heir to the Dukedom of Craven, all of her life. He is best friend to her brother, James. Her childhood has been idyllic, brought up away from the restrictions and trials of society. As she grows from child to maiden, the feelings between herself and Nathan change. A touch, a smile and a kiss, promise future happiness. When he leaves to tour the Americas with James, there is an unspoken agreement between them. But events destroy her idyllic life, snatch her away from that she had expected, and push her into a life she does not want. Unable to fight the forces now controlling her, she vows to seek one last moment of the life she was destined to have, before bowing to the life she must now live. But into that life she takes a secret so dire that if it were discovered her very life could be at risk. Will she be able to maintain her deception? Will she be able to re-capture the happiness she once knew, or is she doomed to the fate that was thrust upon her?

To find out more, please click here

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Freedom of the press is in peril. Families are torn apart by politics and principle. Opposing political parties manipulate the public in speeches, public meetings, and the media, grasping for votes and consolidating power. Foreign nations peddle influence in all directions to achieve their own ends. The struggle between citizens and government tugs at the threads of the American Constitution… and democracy itself. In a matter of moments, the United States will shatter, beginning the long march of the American Civil War.

Harry Wentworth, gentleman of distinction and journalist of renown, spends a lifetime of social and financial capital, exploiting his position as Executive Editor of the Philadelphia Daily Standard to try to arrest the momentum of both Union and Confederacy. To his sorrow and disgust, his calls for peaceful resolution are worth no more than the ink he buys to print them. As such, he must finally resolve his own moral quandary: comment on the war from his influential-safe-position in Northern Society or make a news story and a target of himself south of the Mason-Dixon Line, in a city haunted by a life he has long since left behind? His choices, from the first day of the war to the last, will irrevocably alter his mind, his body, his spirit, and his purpose as an honorable man.

To find out more, please click here