Rake Beyond Redemption MOBI Ô Rake BeyondKindle - See this thread for information My home is in the Welsh Marches although much of my early life was spent in Yorkshire most recently in the East RidingAnn O'Brien The Marches is a remote region of England surrounded by echoes from the Rake Beyond Kindle - past Hereford is close with its famous Mappa Mundi and chained librarySo is Shrewsbury and also Ludlow with its splendid castle and its connections with our Plantagenet and Tudor kings With my husband I live in an eighteenth century timber framed cottage which itself must have seen much history over two hundred yearsI have always enjoyed the appeal of HistoryI taught the subject with enthusiasm but it became my ambition to write historical romances My first novel The Runaway Heiress was published by Mills and Boon in This first book was a Regency Romance in the great tradition of Georgette Heyer who has not admired her skill and delicate touch for the period I have drawn on my interest in the Stuart century to write about the English Civil War and Restoration England of Charles II Living in the Marches however I soon discovered the wealth of atmosphere and legend in this isolated part of England from medieval times It was not long before I was encouraged to create a medieval romance inConuering Knight Captive LadyWhen not writing I have a large rambling garden where George and I grow organic vegetables and soft fruit or perhaps I should admit that he grows them whilst I pick and cook them We have a wild garden an orchard a formal pond and herbaceous flower borders We share it all with rabbits and pheasants frogs and goldfinches hedgehogs and buzzards It is a beautiful place When we first settled into our cottage I planted a herb garden on a Tudor pattern with stone pathways and clipped box hedges From this I developed my interest in herbs and their usesNicholas Culpeper's The Complete Herbal a fascinating resource to a historical novelist first published in has become essential bedside reading As a result the use of herbs in medicine and witchcraft for both good and ill has appeared in some of my novelsFor pure relaxation I enjoy yoga as well as singing with a local Choral Society Watercolour painting allows me to simply sit and appreciate the landscape and the flowers in my garden when my mind is busy constructing my next plot.