Time is no barrier for a love that is destined to be.
She couldn’t be sure that she had travelled through time … but deep down
she just knew.
And her only way back had just disappeared.
When jewellery designer Sara Mattsson is propelled back to the ninth
century, after cutting herself on a Viking knife she uncovers at an
archaeological dig, she is quick to accept what has happened to her. For
this is not the first Sara has heard of time travel.
Although acutely aware of the danger she faces when she loses the knife –
and with it her way to return to her own time – this is also the opportunity of a lifetime. What better way to add authenticity to the Viking and Anglo-Saxon motifs used in her designs?
As luck has it, the first person Sara encounters is Rurik Eskilsson, a
fellow silversmith, who is also no stranger to the concept of time travel.
Agreeing that Sara can accompany him to Jorvik, they embark on a journey
even more perilous than one through time. But Fate has brought these two
kindred spirits together across the ages for a reason…
Purchase Links
UK -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whispers-Runes-enthralling-romantic-timeslip-ebook/dp/B08L6535FJ/
US -
https://www.amazon.com/Whispers-Runes-enthralling-romantic-timeslip-ebook/dp/B08L6535FJ/
Author Q&A
1.
When did you write your first book?
I wrote my first book in 1989 and it
was awful 😊
(although I didn’t know that then of course). I still have it somewhere just to
remind myself how much I have learned since then!
2.
What sparks your creativity/how do you get your ideas?
It can be anything
from a castle ruin to a painting, a piece of jewellery or an actor in a movie.
I will see something and suddenly my mind translates it into a possible scene
in a book and then the characters will start to appear in my head and the story
develops from there.
3.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Read mostly, but I also
like doing crafts like weaving, bandweaving, crochet and cross-stitch. I love
going to the movies (when there isn’t a pandemic!) and I have a large garden
where I try to keep the weeds under control – I find weeding very therapeutic.
4.
What’s a typical writing day like for you?
I’m not terribly organized so
each day is different, but I usually start by doing some social networking on
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram before I do any writing. If I’m really into a
story (usually the first draft, which I find the most exciting to work on), I
can write for hours and sometimes long into the night, but if not, I might do a
little bit of writing, then other things like work on blog posts.
5.
Do you listen to music when writing?
No, I prefer not to. I sometimes
listen to music beforehand as that can give rise to ideas – song lyrics are
often mini stories in themselves – but while I write I like silence around me.
6.
If you could have a dinner party with 3 other authors, who would they be?
It
would have to be more than three as I have some lovely author friends who I met
via the Romantic Novelists’ Association – Sue Moorcroft, Maggie Sullivan, Gill
Stewart, Henriette Gyland and Nicola Cornick among them.
7.
If you had to pick a celebrity to cast for your main character, who would it
be?
Chris Hemsworth – as Thor in the Marvel movies he is the ultimate
Viking and looks the part.
8.
If you could travel anywhere in the world to write, where would you go?
I
depends where my next book is set as it’s always helpful to visit the country
you’re using as the background. At the moment, that would be either Iceland or
Pompeii in Italy as I’m working on stories set in both those places. For
general relaxation purposes, I could quite happily live in Japan for a couple
of months and I’m sure I would find the peace and quiet needed for writing
there.
9.
Would you ever write under a pseudonym?
I already do – my real name is Pia
but I felt that it wasn’t long enough for a historical author so I used my
middle name instead. If I could go back, I’m not sure I would have chosen to do
this though.
10. If you could live in any time period, what would it
be and why?
I’d love to go back to the 1980s because I had a lot of fun
then 😊. I wouldn’t want to live in any era in the past,
although perhaps a time travel visit now and again would be great. I’d love to visit
the Viking, Roman and Dark Ages, as well as Regency England, Scotland under
Bonnie Prince Charlie and perhaps King Charles II’s court. As long as I could
come back to our century whenever I wanted!
11.
How do you choose your book covers?
The publisher creates them for me and
although I can comment on them, I’ve loved the ones they have given me so far
so I have no complaints.
12.
What’s one thing you’d like to say to your readers?
Thank you so much for
enjoying my stories! Every time an author writes a new book, they are unsure
whether anyone else is going to like it and to receive validation in the form
of lovely reviews and messages from readers is just wonderful!
13. Tell us 10 fun facts about yourself!
Not sure if
these are fun but they are facts:-
1) I was once asked for my phone
number by a sumo wrestler
2) At the age of 17 I pretended
to be 12 so I got into a funfair for free
3) I went to an American high
school so my accent is best described as “confused”
4) I’m a complete klutz and once
fell into a shop window
5) I can swear in quite a few
languages (at least 10) – I can speak properly in four, with a smattering of
two others
6) I almost fainted in the
Egyptian temple at Karnak because it was 40 degrees Celsius in the shade and I
had a terrible cold
7) I lived in Japan for three
years and loved it
8) I never yelled at my kids for
listening to loud rock music – I positively encouraged it!
9) I have two scars in the shape
of the sun and the moon because I was burned by boiling milk as baby (it was an
accident)
10) I collect Foo dogs
(Staffordshire pottery spaniels) even though the rest of my family think
they’re hideous (at last count I had 83)
Author Bio –
Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip and time travel
stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK.
Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in
Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a former
chairman of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several
awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with
Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014). Whispers of the
Runes (time travel published by Headline 24th June 2021) is her latest
novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and
archaeology (the armchair variety).
Social Media Links –
http://www.christinacourtenay.com
https://www.facebook.com/christinacourtenayauthor?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/PiaCCourtenay
https://www.instagram.com/ChristinaCourtenayAuthor/
Giveaway to Win
a signed copy of Whispers of the Runes plus a pair of silver Viking
style earrings (Open INT)
*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter
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all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no
response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves
the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or
over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used
for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the
exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway
organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time
Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not
responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
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