Spotlight on Virginia Crow, author of The Year We Lived

It is 1074, 8 years after the fateful Battle of Hastings. Lord Henry De Bois is determined to find the secret community of Robert, an Anglo-Saxon thane. Despite his fervour, all his attempts are met with failure.

When he captures Robert’s young sister, Edith, events are set in motion, affecting everyone involved. Edith is forced into a terrible world of cruelty and deceit, but finds friendship there too.

Will Robert ever learn why Henry hates him so much? Will Edith’s new-found friendships be enough to save her from De Bois? And who is the mysterious stranger in the reedbed who can disappear at will?

A gripping historical fiction with an astonishing twist!

Virginia Crow shares some fun facts

you may or may not know

Stomper McEwan – My website (www.stompermcewan.com) comes from my childhood nickname. One of many, as it happens, including Toilet Brush because my hair used to stand up on end! But Stomper McEwan is the one which stuck. This is like my changeling name and started because my big sister told me I was found in a field stomping in wellies. I got really upset about this and – in true Rumpelstiltskin fashion – stomped so hard on my bed, I broke the slats! Stomper by name, stomper by nature!

 

Vowed never to be a teacher – Both my parents were teachers and I saw the long hours and all the work they did during the holidays. Those people who think a teacher only works 9-3:30 term-time Mondays to Fridays, think again! So, I graduated in theology and had a good look around the job market… But the recession was on the horizon, and jobs were fizzling away. Because there was a shortage of RE teachers the government was offering a training package, so I headed back to university a year later and signed up for the career I vowed never to enter! Now I teach privately, and I absolutely love my job – but I’d never have seen it happen as a child!

 

Signed up to MLitt so I could graduate – By the time I’d bagged my degree and my postgrad teaching qualification, I should have graduated twice.  But I never managed to get the cap and gown, always doing other things in the summer. Three of my sisters had graduated – some of them more than once – and I was a little bit jealous of the lovely pictures. I’d been doing online history courses and my sister suggested I actually got the qualification. She helped me apply to the local university and I got enrolled in the MLitt History of the Highlands and Islands course. Finally, after my third university qualification, I got to wear the gown!

 

Bee Pictures – In my free time over spring and summer I photograph bees! I don’t really know how I got into doing this, but I’m frequently found wandering the garden to snap these furry fellers! It gets to the point where I pick up my camera and Orlando (my spaniel) knows we’re going outside.

William the Conqueror  

Public Domain: Wikimedia

William the Conqueror – I’m the 31^st Great-Granddaughter of William the Conqueror. When I was writing The Year We Lived, I had a little bit of our family tree research gnawing away at the back of my mind. Although the reader never meets William, he is constantly referred to, and I’m confident I could justify his entire engagement with these fictitious and non-fictitious characters!

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Buy Links

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• Waterstones • Kobo • Smashwords • Crowvus

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Virginia Crow

Virginia grew up in Orkney, using the breath-taking scenery to fuel her imagination and the writing fire within her. Her favourite genres to write are fantasy and historical fiction, sometimes mixing the two together such as her newly-published book "Caledon". She enjoys swashbuckling stories such as The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and is still waiting for a screen adaption that lives up to the book!

When she's not writing, Virginia is usually to be found teaching music and obtained her MLitt in "History of the Highlands and Islands" last year. She believes wholeheartedly in the power of music, especially as a tool of inspiration. She also helps out with the John O'Groats Book Festival which is celebrating its 3rd year this April.

She now lives in the far-flung corner of Scotland, soaking in inspiration from the rugged cliffs and miles of sandy beaches. She loves cheese, music, and films, but hates mushrooms.

Connect with Virginia

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