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Author Archives: Patricia

Author Interview: March 20, 2024

March 20 at 7:00 p.m. Pacific TimeA live, on-line author event hosted by The Friends of the Alameda Free Library I’m looking forward to this event, and grateful to the folks at the Friends of the Alameda Free Library for inviting … Read More

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My Favorite Reads in 2023

Ben Fox at Shepherd.com polled hundreds of authors to discover their 3 favorite reads of 2023. My 3 favorites are pictured above, and you can read why I loved them at this link: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/f/patricia-bracewell Take a look, too, at the … Read More

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Wandering Through History

The brilliant historical novelist Hilary Mantel once defined History as “the method we have evolved of organizing our ignorance of the past. It is the record of what’s left on the record…It’s what’s left in the sieve when the centuries … Read More

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Vikings Valhalla Season 2 Review

BEWARE SPOILERS!!! Season 2 of Netflix’s VIKINGS VALHALLA follows the further fanciful adventures of Vikings in the 11th century and, unfortunately, presents us with a bucket full of ridiculous nonsense over in London. The series bears little resemblance to what … Read More

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April Adventures in Wales: A Medieval Dyke, a Carnival & Bookylicious

In late April 2022 my husband and I made our first post-pandemic trip to Europe. We flew from San Francisco to Palermo, Sicily, making a scheduled stop first in Wales. It’s on the way, right? Back in January I had … Read More

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Wrexham Carnival of Words

On April 23, 2022 at 5:30 p.m. I will be joining novelist Barbara Erskine for Historical Fiction Night at the Wrexham Carnival of Words in North Wales. Barbara will be talking abour her latest novel The Dream Weavers, and its … Read More

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The Last Kingdom 5.10: Destiny is All

The final episode of this season takes place at Bebbanburg, where the show and the novels have been leading from the beginning. How that return to Bebbanburg plays out in this series bears little resemblance to what happens in the … Read More

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The Last Kingdom 5.9: The Best Laid Plans…

  TLK Episode 9 begins with Uhtred’s men and the Mercian Guard preparing to ride out from the burh at York to make for Bebbanburg under Uhtred’s command. Uhtred has plenty of reasons for leading a force against Bebbanburg: the … Read More

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The Last Kingdom 5.8: Daughters and Sons

  In the previous episode (Ep. 7), while I was totally fixated on Brida, the other story threads inched forward. Aethelhelm approached the Scots king with the offer of a Mercian bride (Aelswith) in return for putting his grandson on … Read More

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The Last Kingdom 5.7: Brida

The scripts for The Last Kingdom are based on the novels of Bernard Cornwell, on the history of 10th century England, and on what emerges from the creative minds of the showrunners. This final season has four previous seasons of … Read More

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