Blog Tour & Guest Post: Barbara Kyle (and Giveaway, too!!! – CLOSED)

Please join me in welcoming Barbara Kyle, author of The Queen’s Exile to Always With a Book! If you missed my review, you can read it here. Today Barbara guest blogs about one special email from a reader.

Enjoy and be sure to enter the giveaway below!

THE ACORN AND THE PINE CONE

by Barbara Kyle

  

I welcome every
letter and email I get from readers, but there’s one that I particularly
cherish. Here’s the story.

Some years ago
I was in England researching The Queen’s
Lady, the first book in my Thornleigh Saga, and spent a day exploring Hever
Castle in Kent. This was the home of the Boleyn family, and Henry VIII came
here to court Anne. That tempestuous affair, as we know, changed the course of
England’s history, and is pivotal to my book’s plot. 

As I strolled
the grounds in a happy haze of imagination, I picked up an acorn. I
squirreled it away in my pocket and brought it home to Canada, and it sat on my
desk beside my
computer, a potent reminder of its birthplace as I wrote The Queen’s Lady.

The acorn was
still on my desk when I wrote my next book, The
King’s Daughter. It had become a touchstone that spirited me back to the
Tudor world. I was very fond of it.

Then my husband
and I moved, and in the shuffle the little acorn got lost.

A few months
later, as I was preparing for the publication of book #3 in the Thornleigh
Saga,  The Queen’s Captive, I got a cheery email from a fan telling me he
was on his way to England for an “Anne Boleyn Tour,” during which he’d be staying at
Hever Castle. There
would be dinners in the Great Hall where Henry and Anne ate, plus lectures,
plays, and demonstrations – “A once in a lifetime experience,” he said. I replied to wish him a happy trip
and told him about my acorn. His name is Colonel Elmer K. Follis and he lives
in Tennessee.

Some time later
a small package arrived in my mailbox. It was from Colonel Follis. Inside was a
note: “I looked for an acorn to replace the
one you lost but couldn’t find one.  I did get you this.” Nestled under
the note was a pine cone. He had scoured the Hever grounds for it. “It’s from
the area where Henry courted Anne, according to the castle staff,” wrote the
Colonel. 

I was so
touched. The pine cone has had pride of place on my desk beside my computer as
I’ve written three more Thornleigh Saga books. The Queen’s Exiles is the latest.

Thank you,
Colonel Follis, for what you gave me. A once in a
lifetime experience.

###

Thank you Barbara Kyle for sharing this wonderful guest post with us!!!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS – CLOSED (US/Canada only)  

Thanks to the Amy at Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours I have one paperback copy of The Queen’s Exiles to give away to my readers.

 

To enter…

• Leave a comment below & be sure to include your email address.
• Tweet, share on Facebook, or blog for 2 extra entries.
• You MUST include email address or entry will be invalid.
• I will contact winner at the conclusion of the giveaway & they will have 2 days to respond or I will pick a new winner.

This giveaway is open to US/Canada residents only and ends July 30th.

Good luck!