Today I'm welcoming Jean M Roberts and her book - The Heron - to my blog as part of the blog tour hosted by The Coffee Pot Book Club (founded by Mary Anne Yarde)
The Heron
The past calls to those who dare to listen…
An invitation arrives; Abbey Coote, Professor of American Studies, has won an extended stay in an historic B&B, Pine Tree House. The timing is perfect. Abbey is recovering from an accident which left her abusive boyfriend dead and her with little memory of the event.
But her idyllic respite soon takes a terrifying turn. While exploring the house, Abbey comes face to face with Mary Foss, a woman dead for 350 years. Through a time/mind interface, Abbey experiences the horrors of Mary’s life, living at the edge of the civilized world in the 1690’s New England.
As Abbey faces her worst fears, she struggles to free them both from the past.
Publication Date: 15 April 2021
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Page Length: 252 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction/Time Slip
You can purchase a copy of the book via -
Now for the guest post -
The Heron is my third novel, the first two are what I would consider to be pure historical fiction. For this book, I knew I wanted to do something a little different. I have always loved time-slip novels. I think the first one I read was Daphne du Maurier’s The House on the Strand in which the main character drinks a potion which enables him to travel back in time. Other favorites were Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine and Anya Seton’s Green Darkness. Contemporary writers who have inspired me are of course Diana Gabaldon and Susanna Kearsley. For The Heron, I wanted to blend my love of historical fiction, genealogy, and time travel to create my own original interpretation of the time travel genre.
Time Travel has always been a popular sub-genre that generally falls into the Science Fiction camp. There are all sorts of methods to achieve this journey into the past; a machine of some sorts, a portal such as Gabaldon’s rune stones that one ‘passes through’, a knock on the head or a mind-altering drug. Michael Crichton, in Timeline, used a machine that disassembled you and transported you into the past where you were put back together, kind of like the transporter in Star Trek. I think I’d have to pass on that one. What happens to you when you time travel? Some characters are themselves; some assume the persona of a person who lived in that age. It was fun trying to work out answers to these questions.
The historical setting for the book is the late 17th century in New England; Oyster River, New Hampshire, to be exact. The period is one of great conflict; the first of the French and Indian Wars, 1688-1697 was raging as raiders swept down from Canada to kill or capture unwary colonists. I did an enormous amount of research to ensure that the period details were just right. Several of my ancestors lived along the river at that time and make a brief appearance in my story. Sadly, some of them did not survive the war. I felt a responsibility to get their story just right. My goal was to immerse the reader in their world; make them feel it, see it, taste life in the 1690s. Theirs was the gritty life of the working people, as opposed to the glittering world of kings and queens.
My second goal was to make those long-ago people feel real, let the reader connect with them emotionally. Sometimes we forget that our ancestors were flesh and blood humans with the full gamut of emotions, wants and needs. My character, Mary Foss, was born about 1670. Her grandparents would likely have been born in England, making her a second generation ‘New Englander’. Not yet an American, but not quite English, either. She lived in a culture vastly different to ours. In an effort to humanize her, I made her a complex person who doesn’t always make the best choices. I wanted readers to sympathize with her, get angry at her and hopefully cheer for her.
My modern main character, Abbey, encounters Mary as both a ghostly presence and through the element of time-slip. Abby has lost her abusive boyfriend in an accident. Her memories of that event are muddled. She feels guilt and shame for allowing the abuse to continue. Abbey views the events of Mary’s life, seeing her world without being physically present in it. Abbey is there to observe. She comes to realize they have much in common. Despite the 350 years that separate them, they are bonded in by the kinship of womanhood. And this was my third goal, to connect the past with the present to highlight our commonality instead of our differences.
Jean M Roberts
With a passion for history, author Jean M. Roberts is on a mission to bring the past to life. She is the author of three novels, WEAVE A WEB OF WITCHCRAFT, BLOOD IN THE VALLEY and THE HERON. After graduating from the University of St. Thomas, Jean served in the United States Air Force, she has worked as a Nurse Administrator and is currently writing full-time. She lives in Texas with her husband.
You can connect with Jean M Roberts via these platforms -
Website • Twitter • Instagram • Facebook
You can also learn more about the book and the author by visiting the other blogs on this tour.
That's it for now.
Till the next time.
Take care Zoe
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