If there is an advantage to be had from being as old as the hills, it’s that I grew up at a time when there weren’t any helicopter moms. During spring holidays or summer breaks, I could get up in the morning, eat breakfast, and go out into the world with no questions asked. From … Continue reading From Prison Potatoes to Peasant Masterpiece: Van Gogh, Parmentier, and the Humble Tuber
French Monarchy
Downcast Eyes, Defiant Heart: A Daughter’s Plea in a Revolutionary Storm
A daughter's desperate plea saves her father from the guillotine in Ouless's haunting depiction of 1792's horrors—explore the Revolution's tragic irony.
The Naked Truth
Have you ever wondered about the origin of the phrase the naked truth? Ever since I began writing historical fiction, I have had this almost obsessive desire to know the etymology of words, slang expressions, and clichés. In my novel A Moon Garden, when I put words in the mouth of an 18th-century gentleman living … Continue reading The Naked Truth
The Brothers in the Tower
In August of 1792, Louis XVI of France was arrested. A month later, the monarchy was abolished. Stripped of his Royal inheritance, the deposed king was now known as Citizen Louis Capet. He was tried and convicted of treason and executed in January in 1793. Louis XVI bids farewell to his family the day before … Continue reading The Brothers in the Tower
Art*Connections 