Rebecca Bryn

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About Rebecca Bryn
Rebecca lives near Britain's smallest city, St Davids, in the far west of Wales with her rescue dog, rescue husband and twenty very sheepish sheep. Surrounded by stunning coastal and moorland scenery, she also loves to paint. She inherited her love of stories from her grandfather, who told stories with his hands: stories with colourful characters and unexpected endings. Her fascination with what makes people who they are, and the belief that life is many shades of grey, informs her writing. A Native American Indian proverb reads, 'Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.' Rebecca has based her life on this tenet: it is certainly core to her writing. 'We may not condone what a person does, but sometimes we can understand and maybe come to forgive.' In 2019, she won the IAN Fiction Book of the Year prize, the IAN Outstanding Historical Fiction prize, and the Readers' Favorite Gold Medal for Historical era/event Fiction.
All her books have been awarded Readers' Favorite 5-star reviews, and previews of her books can be read at https://rebeccabrynblog.wordpress.com/2017/12/03/free-previews/
Sign up for her monthly newsletter for free short stories, recommended reading, and news at http://www.subscribepage.com/r4m2r0
The Silence of the Stones, set in mystical West Wales, is woven around injustice, perjury and revenge and delves into the damaged psyche. It was inspired by the release from prison of Angela Canning and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Touching the Wire, a story of the women of the holocaust, was awarded 'Best Historical Thriller of 2015' by Christoph Fischer, a respected histfic author, and was also awarded a Readers' Favourite 5-star review. In 2019, it was awarded a gold medal in the Readers' Favorite Book Awards and the 'Outstanding Historical Fiction' prize and the 'Fiction Book of the Year' prize in the Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards.
Where Hope Dares, is a chilling story of the fight of good over evil, courage and unbreakable love, and is set in a future our present is unerringly shaping. It was voted into the 'Read Freely Top 50 Indie Books of 2015' and also gained a Readers' Favourite 5-star review.
On Different Shores, Part One of 'For Their Country's Good' is set in the 1840s and is inspired by the true story of the 'black sheep' of her family and the lives of convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land.
Part Two, Beneath Strange Stars
Part Three, On Common Ground
The Dandelion Clock, enters the world of a young man and his horse sent to fight in Egypt and Palestine in the Great War and the girl waiting at home, unsure whether the man she loves is alive or dead. Again, it is inspired by family history and chronicles the war from the viewpoint of the Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars and the Queen's Own Worcester Yeomanry, brigades with which her grandfather fought, and the lives of those waiting at home in England. 'Totally compelling and unmissable' was one reviewers opinion.
Kindred and Affinity In Victorian England, estranged sisters, Annie and Mary Ellen Underwood, fight for the love of one man, Edwin West. Their rivalry ignites passions, jealousies, family feuds, and deep hatreds already sparked by religious intolerance. Edwin loves them both, but both are forbidden fruit. Who will be the winners in this three-sided game, and what will be the price of a second chance at love for the losers? Another tale inspired by my family history. For lovers of Catherine Cookson.
The Chainmakers' Daughter. Set in the Black Country of England in the early 1900s. Rosie is the daughter of chainmakers and lives in abject poverty. Wages for women are atrocious even for working long hours, and she has no hope of improving her lot in life. Then she meets Mary Macarthur, a socialist reformer, who inspires her to join the women's fight against their chain masters and strike for more pay. An ill-considered liaison with the chain master's son threatens to jeopardise her fight, her relationship with the man she loves, and could see her dangling from the gallows. Can the women workers fight the chain master and win?
Interviews with Rebecca, giving an insight into her life and work can be seen at http://www.authoryellehughes.com/?page_id=6169
and https://goo.gle/lbgBXK and yet another at
https://writerchristophfischer.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/welsh-wednesdays-interview-with-rebecca-bryn/
Do read some of Rebecca's reviews on the book purchase pages and read the samples in the 'look inside'. 'I've been blown away and humbled by the comments my reviewers have made, so thank you all for your fabulous words: they mean so much.' - Rebecca Bryn
THE SILENCE OF THE STONES
Two-year-old Saffy is the child of rape Alana can't love. Tony is the ex-lover Alana walked out on. Nerys was imprisoned for 30 years for a crime of child-murder and released into a world for which she's ill-fitted. Rhiannon vows revenge on the twelve who perjured themselves to put Nerys away. Greg is a busker, adopted and searching for his birth-mother, and Maddy is an investigative journalist with her own agenda. Mix these together, stir in abduction, murder, arson, betrayal and love, and the explosion was always going to be catastrophic. http://mybook.to/SilenceoftheStones
TOUCHING THE WIRE
In a Nazi death-camp in Poland, Chuck (aka Walt) and Miriam, young medics, struggle to save lives while both facing death daily as they join the camp resistance - sabotage means execution. At liberation, Chuck steals evidence and makes a promise to Miriam. Hope turns to despair as they are separated.
Will he find her again, will he keep his promise, will the secrets he fears he will take to his grave ever be told to the world? Only his granddaughter, Charlotte can uncover the truth now and keep her grandfather's promise.
http://mybook.to/TouchingtheWire
WHERE HOPE DARES
If it can be imagined, it can be achieved: man will go where hope dares. Abe has a secret agenda decreed by a long-dead pope. When Kiya, a young healer under his protection, is kidnapped to fulfil an ancient prophecy, he and Raphel, Kiya's storyteller husband, set out on a 1000-mile journey to rescue her with only hope and a headful of stories to aid them. Help comes form where it is least expected, but who can they trust? Friend or foe? Available now at http://getbook.at/WhereHopeDares
READERS' FAVORITE 5-STAR EDITORICAL REVIEW
'Rebecca Bryn’s Where Hope Dares is an optimistic dystopian story of courage, hope and unbreakable love. Set five millennia in the future, in a time of war and political turmoil believed by some to herald the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, Kiya, a naïve village healer, is kidnapped to fulfil an ancient prophecy and marched over the High Atlas Mountains to the stronghold of Velik, a power-crazed high priest. Raphel, her storyteller husband, is determined to bring her home. He looks to his old friend, Abe, for help, but can he trust him? Abe is a member of a secret brotherhood and has his own agenda concerning the Son of God. The unlikely and only alternative source of assistance is Alaric, the vicious murderer who raped and abducted his wife.
Where Hope Dares demonstrates that Rebecca Bryn is a writer of considerable talent. Every character, important or minor, is well-drawn and believable: no mean feat when gentle Raphel must dig deep for courage and egotistical Alaric is challenged to change the beliefs of a lifetime. The reader is gripped from the moment Abe, presented as a poor peddler, comes across a brutal parody of Christ’s crucifixion. His words, “My God, why? Strike me! The fault is mine not theirs,” echo Christ’s own words, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” with a clarity that jumps from the page. Feelings are only part of the attraction of this book. It is jam-packed with action, from wild horseback gallops to a ship in grave danger when it is fog-bound at sea. For readers interested in the ecological scenario against which Where Hope Dares is set, there is an excellent Afterword by Philip Stephen Knight BSc.'
ON DIFFERENT SHORES (For Their Country's Good Book One)
Found guilty of killing Lord Northampton's gamekeeper, a young poacher is transported to Van Diemen's Land, for life, leaving behind the common-law wife he loves. Pregnant and penniless, she faces the appalling lack of rights for women in Victorian England. While he suffers disease and the deprivations of a brutal life in chains, she is determined her child will know its father, so embarks on a dangerous endeavour to follow her lover across the globe. Will the cost prove too high, for her and all those she loves?
http://mybook.to/OnDifferentShores also available as a box set.
READERS' FAVORITE 5-STAR EDITORIAL REVIEW
On Different Shores by Rebecca Bryn opens in a country rectory in Victorian England, where Ella has been sent after being caught sharing a kiss with her employer’s son. Whilst Reverend Buchanan seeks a suitable husband for his dowerless protégé, Ella falls in love with Jem, a poor poacher. Pregnant with Jem’s child, she flees her loveless marriage to farmer’s son, Harry, and becomes Jem’s common-law wife. Jem is found guilty of the manslaughter of a gamekeeper. Lucky to escape hanging, he is transported to Van Diemen’s Land for life. Ella refuses to forget him, determined that their child shall know its father. Can Ella raise the money to follow her lover? Will Jem survive the perilous sea journey, manacled in chains?
On Different Shores is a powerful, character-driven, story of a young couple and their ill-fated love. Rebecca Bryn has gone a step further than any “Romeo and Juliet” tale by setting it in Victorian times. Women had no rights whatever, but Ella defies convention, earning money any way she can, and giving birth to Jem’s son, resolute in her intention to escape Harry. Will she be defeated by Harry’s single-minded passion to father a son of his own? If she escapes, can she endure crossing the globe with a toddler? Ella will move readers to tears, and to fury; she lives. All Ms Bryn’s characters, the good, the bad, and the ugly, live. On Different Shores is a brilliant historical novel that takes the reader wherever Ella and Jem lead. - Readers' Favorite 5-star review.
Available at:
http://mybook.to/OnDifferentShores
http://mybook.to/BeneathStrangeStars
http://mybook.to/OnCommonGround
http://mybook.to/FTCGboxset
THE DANDELION CLOCK Bill is a young boot-last maker who is sent with his horse Copper to fight in Egypt and Palestine in WW1 and survives the horror of Gallipoli. Meanwhile his sweetheart, Florrie, to whom he has promised marriage, struggles to raise her siblings at home in England. War changes everything. Can their love survive the horror of war and five years apart? He loves me - he love me not?
http://mybook.to/DandelionClock
KINDRED AND AFFINITY In Victorian England, estranged sisters, Annie and Mary Ellen Underwood, fight for the love of one man, Edwin West. Their rivalry ignites passions, jealousies, family feuds, and deep hatreds already sparked by religious intolerance. Edwin loves them both, but both are forbidden fruit. Who will be the winners in this three-sided game, and what will be the price of a second chance at love for the losers? For lovers of Catherine Cookson.
http://mybook.at/KindredandAffinity
THE CHAINMAKERS' DAUGHTER Set in the Black Country of England in the early 1900s. Rosie is the daughter of chainmakers and lives in abject poverty. Wages for women are atrocious even for working long hours, and she has no hope of improving her lot in life. Then she meets Mary Macarthur, a socialist reformer, who inspires her to join the women's fight against their chain masters and strike for more pay. An ill-considered liaison with the chain master's son threatens to jeopardise her fight, her relationship with the man she loves, and could see her dangling from the gallows. Can the women workers fight the chain master and win?
http://mybook.to/ChainmakersDaughter
Short stories: Rebecca is honoured to have had a short story, Ooh, Air Margrit, accepted for a charity anthology of very talented Indie authors. The anthology is called You're Not Alone and is the brainchild of Ian D Moore. He wanted to do something to help the wonderful Macmillan cancer nurses who supported a friend during her illness. The theme of the anthology is relationships, and some of the stories are funny, some moving and some thought-provoking. All are brilliant.
The anthology is available to pre-order at http://smarturl.it/YoureNotAloneAnth
All royalties go to the Pamela Winton Fund to support Macmillan cancer nurses; order it now and support this great cause. Another anthology for the same cause, with the theme 'freedom' is planned for 2017.
https://rebeccabrynblog.wordpress.com
message at www.facebook.com/rebecca.bryn.novels
or tweet her at www.twitter.com/rebeccabryn1
More about her books at www.independentauthornetwork.com/rebecca-bryn
And for a taster for the anthology go to www.independentauthornetwork.com/rebecca-bryn click on and read her short story 'Ooh, Air Margrit'. It's embarrassingly true!
Another short story,' The Moral of this Story is...' can also be read free at http://readersgazette.com/promote/stories/39
And please, please follow me on Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/rebecca-bryn-5527e97a-146a-49e7-95c7-a30b0f603c80 Thank you so much - Rebecca.
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Blog postReblogged.
Can DCI Gerald Croft stop a crime wave before the media pick up the story and put him in the chief superintendent’s firing line?
An armed raid on a jewellers’ shop – deaths that might have been a suicide pact or murder – a teenage girl kidnapped.
Is there more to come? Pre-order available at just 99 cents/pence/euro. Grab it now before the published price rises!
http://getbook.at/DeadlyEnvy View original post
3 weeks ago Read more -
Blog postPosted on October 20, 2017 by Rebecca Bryn
Image courtesy of petelovespurple via Visual Hunt.
Back in the good old days, I suppose I’d have been about three and sitting in a little metal chair on the back of Mum’s sit-up-and-beg Raleigh, shopping was quite a different experience. We went to the corner shop, the greengrocer, or the butcher for most of our daily requirements. Daily, because domestic refrigeration was unheard of. Potatoes were weighed out and2 months ago Read more -
Blog postI’ve had a shadow at my side for most of the last sixty-odd years. It’s taken different shapes and sizes, but it has been a comfort, a non-judgemental inspiration, and an ever-cheerful devoted friend.
My present shadow has been my constant companion for the last fourteen years. She’s a small chocolate and tan collie-cross rescued from the streets of Caerphilly during a cold February – a poor skinny little thing with the sweetest nature you could wish for.
When I say constant,2 months ago Read more -
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Blog postChapter One ‘Of all the pirates I’ve heard and seen
The basest and the bloodiest is Captain Green’
***
My Country men who do intend
on Pirrating to go,
Be sure what e’re ye may pretend
The certain end is wo,
I know’t to sad Experience .
The better may I tell,
I thought my self in sure defence,
But suddenly I fell.’
The Ballad of Captain Thomas Green 1705
New Forest, England 1697
Tom leaned forward and risk2 months ago Read more -
Blog postIt’s 1705 and Scotland is on its knees. For years, the country’s Company of Scotland has been denied access to the profitable trade routes to the East Indies by the rival English East India Company. Piracy is rife across the ocean trade routes, the slave trade is at its height, England is keen to avoid … More The most ignominious act of treachery in Scottish history.2 months ago Read more
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Blog postMarch is Women’s History Month, and as a writer of historical fiction – stories that feature strong women – I can’t let it pass unmentioned.
You might ask why women should have a month dedicated to their history; after all, everyone’s history is important if we’re to understand our present, but I shall attempt to give my take on it.
The more I have delved into history for my novels, the more I have begun to understand a woman’s role in the affairs of men. She is the glue that2 months ago Read more -
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Blog postAs writers, we are encouraged not to use cliches, but these phrases started out somewhere in the dim and distant past and had a real meaning, so as a writer of historical fiction, I ask myself ‘was it a cliche at the time about which I am writing?’, and perhaps more importantly, will the reader view it as a cliche, despite it’s historical setting?
Take my latest novel, Revenge, presently out with beta readers. It’s set at the end of the 17th century, and much of it takes place on the3 months ago Read more -
Blog postLooking forward to this being published. I loved the last in the series.
DCIGerald Croft is once again in the Chief Superintendent’s firing line; the Garton Gazette is printing embarrassing articles! An armed raid on a jewellers’ shop ends with the death of the owner.Three people, or possibly four, have unexpectedly died of heart attacks, and a poisoner is at work. Children are kidnapped from the wealthiest part of the borough and returned for huge ransoms… to be paid in gemst4 months ago Read more -
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Blog postWow, Lucinda! Thank you for sharing.
lucinda E Clarke
These are the last 4 of my top 12 books for this year.
A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE Barbara Taylor Bradford
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074CG2WN1 One of the top-ten bestselling novels ever written. “An extravagant, absorbing novel of love, courage, ambition, war, death and passion.” —The New York Times
Barbara Taylor Bradford’s The Emma Harte Saga begins with this record-shatteringNew York Timesbestseller5 months ago Read more -
Blog postSharing this great deal with my readers. I loved this series.
Grab Book 1 for FREE & 4 more for only 99c each. Find out how a Tudor queen pushed her 21st century heiress into danger, and how the man she loved never forgot her… or his betrayal!
It all began when a wealthy Elspeth fell in love with a backstreet boy, but obeyed the queen’s command to pass on a diary to her daughter, Lisette, who dreamed of forbidden love… but did it remain a dream?
Lisette had a5 months ago Read more -
Blog postI thought a comparison between pastel and watercolour/ink would be useful. Some subjects are more suited to one medium than another, though it’s down to personal taste. This one is pastel. The full demonstration I hope to include in my painting animals how-to book. Six demos done.
1 year ago Read more -
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Blog postPastel on velour paper. Another possible for inclusion in a how-to book on animal portraits. Now to write up my notes. I’ve taken about a dozen photographs at various stages.
This is how it began!
1 year ago Read more -
Blog postThis is my little dog. Another possible step-by-step demonstration for an ‘animals in pastels, watercolour, and ink’ painting book.
1 year ago Read more -
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Blog postI’ve been thinking about this for a while, but Covid-19 rather quashed my creativity, painting wise, though I have been writing a novel, my tenth. However, that published and feeling at a loose end, I decided to get out my watercolour paints and acrylic inks.
If this lion works out okay, I may build him into a book about painting animal portraits in ink and watercolour. Pets, farm animals, wildlife – there are a host of subjects.
Anyway, here are a few photographs of the proce1 year ago Read more -
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Blog postA few more acrylic pours. These are some of the better abstract ones.
Dragon Breath In the Beginning (excuse reflection. The painting was still wet) Popping In the Night Garden2 years ago Read more -
Blog postI’ve always loved drawing and painting. When I was little, my mother papered my bedroom walls with lining paper and let me draw on it. At school, I loved art lessons – not that I ever remember being taught how to paint or draw: it was more ‘Paint a tree’ and we were left to get on with it – big brushes and jars of poster paint and much daubing on cheap sheets of thin paper. I always contrived to get a horse into my painting somewhere even if it was looking in through a window, and I was as go3 years ago Read more
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Titles By Rebecca Bryn
Jem is a poacher, and when he and his two cousins are found guilty of killing Lord Northampton's gamekeeper in 1841, he is transported to Van Diemen's Land for life, leaving behind Ella, now his common-law wife. Pregnant and penniless, she faces the appalling lack of rights for women in Victorian England and is forced to make terrible choices.
While Jem suffers the deprivations of a brutal life in chains, Ella is determined her child will know its father. If selling her body is the only way to raise the fare to follow him across the globe, then that is what she’s prepared to do. Will the cost of her actions prove too high, for her, and for all those she loves? Can she and Jem ever be reunited?
On Different Shores is book one of three, and the ongoing nature of the story, inspired by real events in the author’s family history, means that these are not stand-alone books. The story is split simply because there are too many pages for one volume. (There is an e-boxset) Although each book takes you to a pivotal moment in the story, all three need to be read in order to reach the conclusion. Also, be prepared for some explicit sex and sexual abuse necessary to the plot.
The story spans twenty years in the lives of Jem and Ella and takes them around the globe, crossing perilous oceans in sailing ships to the penal colonies of Van Diemen’s Land, and to the goldfields of Australia, suffering the hardships many convicts and free emigrants suffered to found a British colony on slave labour.
Book Two is 'Beneath Strange Stars'.
Book Three is 'On Common Ground'.
Readers' Favorite Editorial Review - 5 stars ‘On Different Shores (For Their Country’s Good Book 1) by Rebecca Bryn is a powerful, character-driven, story of a young couple and their ill-fated love. Rebecca Bryn has gone a step further than any “Romeo and Juliet” tale by setting it in Victorian times. Women had no rights whatever, but Ella defies convention, earning money any way she can, and giving birth to Jem’s son, resolute in her intention to escape her abusive husband, Harry.
Will she be defeated by Harry’s single-minded passion to father a son of his own? If she escapes, can she endure crossing the globe with a toddler? Ella will move readers to tears, and to fury; she lives. All Ms Bryn’s characters, the good, the bad, and the ugly, live. On Different Shores is the first book in a brilliant historical novel that takes the reader wherever Ella and Jem lead.’
'I don't know where to begin in praising this book – there is so much that is good about it. It is a post-apocalypse saga of epic proportions. Worthy of the mistresses of the genre, Margaret Attwood and Ursula LeGuin, the story and the world Rebecca Bryn has created is utterly convincing.' Review - Frank Parker author of Strongbow's Wife.
A prophecy, a sacrifice, and a truth that is more terrifying than the legend.
The Child of Prohecy is set in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco at some time between the Great Flood and the Second Coming. Kiya is a village healer and her husband, Raphel, is a storyteller, keeping alive the oral traditions of their people. Life is peaceful, ordered, happy, and the most excitement they have is regular visits from Abe, an itinerent peddler who trades across the mountains with his mule, Moses.
Abe, however, is not what he seems, and though he has Kiya and Raphel's best interests at heart, he has a secret agendum laid down by a long-dead pope that is sometimes at war with his love for his friends. He has dedicated his long life to watching over the village where Kiya lives, but why? What is it he's not telling her?
All goes horribly wrong when a pagan, war-hungry cult from the northern side of the mountains descend with arson, rape, and slaughter on their minds, and an ancient prophecy to fulfil. Kiya is kidnapped and forced north over the mountains, but what has the prophecy to do with Kiya? Does Abe know?
Alaric, one of the barbaric Northmen, sees Kiya as the legendary 'Gift' of prophecy he's been sent to find, and he rapes and kidnaps her and forces her north over the mountains, leaving Raphel for dead amid the burning ruins of his village.
Raphel lives and determines to set off in search of Kiya, his only aids hope, love, and a headful of stories. Abe goes with him, but his reasons for this aren't quite what they seem, and he will find his allegiencies sorely tested.
That the chase on foot across the mountains in winter will be hard and long is not in doubt, or that the sea voyage will be fraught with danger, or the trek across the desert under a burning sun less deadly than that of their ancestors who fled persecution from East Africa. That gentle Raphel will have to use every ounce of his knowledge, wit, compassion, forgiveness, and courage to rescue his wife, is certain, but who will prove to be his friend and who his foe, and what is this prophecy by which the Northmen set so much store? Why is it so important that they will kill and risk their own deaths to fulfil it - and can such an ancient prophecy be trusted?
Tom is a young Englishman trying to prove himself worthy of the girl he loves.
Andrew, a Scot, hopes to build a better life for his family in New Caledonia, a Scottish trading post on the Darien Isthmus.
Driven to revenge, because of England’s stranglehold on the trade routes, the merchants of Scotland bring England and Scotland to the brink of war.
Tom and Andrew are on opposing sides when they are thrust together by a chance meeting. Will one of them have to die before England and Scotland can unite in peace?
An action-packed adventure with courtroom drama, suspense, a love interest, and a surprise ending.
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