Linda Acaster is a mainstream published UK novelist, with a host of short fiction and non-fiction to her credit, who is digitally indie authoring her backlist as a springboard to launching the first of a trilogy of contemporary thrillers as original ebooks.
Hostage of the Heart is a Mediaeval romance set on the English-Welsh borders in 1066. With the northern militia gone to support the new king, Rhodri ap Hywel sweeps down the valley to reclaim lands stolen by the English, taking the Saxon Lady Dena as a battle hostage. But who is the more barbaric: a man who protects his people by the strength of his sword-arm, or Dena’s kin who swear fealty to a canon of lies and refuse to pay her ransom? Dare she place her life in the hands of a warrior-knight shielding dark secrets of his own?
What will e-readers like about your book?
It’s a fast-paced adventure offering a different perspective on an era of British history, not the courtly lives of the powerful, but the ordinary people on the ground who always bear the brunt of others machinations. Dena might be a ‘lady’ but she’s a poor relative accepted into her uncle’s household to gain him prestige by marriage. When events turn, she becomes first disposable, then a bargaining tool. What price integrity? What price truth?
Why did you go indie?
Hostage of the Heart, and my other historical romance Beneath The Shining Mountains, were originally mainstream print novels. I’ve had their rights reverted for some time and as indie ebook publishing on Amazon has opened to non-USA citizens I decided to bring them to a different readership, and use the experience as a dry run for my contemporary Torc of Moonlight. It’s been a fascinating learning curve.
Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
Rosemary Sutcliff’s novels showed me how history could be made both exciting and educational, and it’s something I always try to emulate. No matter what the genre, readers should be able to leave a novel having been intrigued by something factual. Modern authors in the Medieval romance genre include Lindsay Townsend, a UK writer who has had better success in the USA than in her own country, which says a lot more about publishers than it does readers.
Amazon US Kindle page http://tinyurl.com/3a2dyz5
Amazon UK Kindle page http://tinyurl.com/24xbekn
Smashwords page https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/14120
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