Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Kate Forsyth on tour for Bitter Greens, February 25 – March 22

Posted By amy @ 1:10 pm | 1 Comment

Please join Kate Forsyth as she tours the blogosphere for Bitter Greens from February 25 – March 22.

Bitter GreensPublication Date: February 25, 2013
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Hardcover; 350p
ISBN: 0749013621

Bitter Greens is an historical novel for adults which interweaves the Rapunzel fairytale with the true story of Charlotte-Rose de la Force, a 17th century French writer who wrote the version of the fairytale we know best, while locked away in a convent by the Sun King, Louis XIV, for her bold and unconventional views on love and society.

Charlotte-Rose has scandalized the court by falling passionately in love with a young nobleman, then dressing up as a dancing bear to rescue him from imprisonment. Banished to a strict Benedictine convent by the king, she remembers her life and loves at the magnificent and corrupt court of Versailles. Charlotte-Rose is filled at despair at her imprisonment, but she is comforted by an old nun, the apothicairesse at the convent, Sœur Seraphina, who tells her the secret history of a young girl in 16th century Venice, who is sold by her parents for a handful of bitter greens …

Margherita’s parents love her dearly but the penalty for stealing in Venice in the late 16th century is cruel, and so they agree to give up their child at the age of seven to Selena, a courtesan whose walled garden is famous for its herbs and flowers. Selena is the famous red-haired muse of the artist Titian, first painted by him in 1513 and still inspiring him at the time of his death, sixty-one years later. Called La Strega Bella, Selena is at the centre of Renaissance life in Venice, a world of beauty and danger, seduction and betrayal, love and superstition. Selena is determined to never surrender the power that her beauty gives her, and so she turns to black magic and a spell that requires the blood of a virgin. Yet in the decadent world of Renaissance Italy, where courtesans supped with kings, where convents were hotbeds of illicit love, and where a girl’s virginity was sold many times over, how was Selena to ensure her spell would work, not just once, but over and over again? The only way was to build a tower without door or stairs, deep in the forest … and this is where she locks Margherita at the age of twelve. As Margherita grows into womanhood, she sings in the hope someone will hear her. One day, a young man does and climbs her rope of hair into the tower … and so begins a beautiful love story that retells one of the world’s most mysterious and enduring fairytales.

The story of Margherita’s escape from the tower is interwoven with flashbacks that recount Charlotte-Rose’s tragic childhood and her scandalous life at the Sun King’s glittering court, and also the dark and tragic story of the courtesan Selena and how she came to be Titian’s muse. Three women, three lives, three stories, all braided together to create a compelling story of desire, obsession, black magic, and the redemptive power of love.

Praise for Bitter Greens

“Kate Forsyth’s Bitter Greens is not only a magnificent achievement that would make any novelist jealous, it’s one of the most beautiful paeans to the magic of storytelling that I’ve ever read.” – C.W. Gortner, author of The Queen’s Vow and The Confessions of Catherine de Medici

“History and fairytale are richly entwined in this spellbinding story. Unputdownable!” – Juliet Marillier, author of Daughter of the Forest and Heart’s Blood

“In Bitter Greens, Kate Forsyth delivers a tale of beauty, strength and gravity. Her fierce respect for the art and power of storytelling shines through every page.” – Booklover Book Reviews

About the AuthorKate Forsyth 1

Kate Forsyth is the award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 books for adults and children , translated into 13 languages. She was recently named in the Top 25 of Australia’s Favourite Novelists. Since The Witches of Eileanan was named a Best First Novel by Locus Magazine, Kate has won or been nominated for many awards, including a CYBIL Award in the US. She’s also the only author to win five Aurealis awards in a single year, for her Gypsy Crown series of children’s historical novels. Kate’s latest novel, Bitter Greens, interweaves a retelling of the Rapunzel fairytale with the scandalous life story of the woman who first told the tale, the 17th century French writer Charlotte-Rose de la Force. It has been called ‘the best fairy tale retelling since Angela Carter’ and ‘an imaginative weaving of magic, fairy tale and history’. A direct descendant of Charlotte Waring, the author of the first book for children ever published in Australia, Kate is currently studying a doctorate in fairy tales at the University of Technology in Sydney, where she lives by the sea, with her husband, three children, and many thousands of books.

Please visit Kate Forsyth’s WEBSITE and BLOG for more information. You can also find her on FACEBOOK and follow her on TWITTER.

Virtual Book Tour Schedule

Monday, February 25
Guest Post at Historical Tapestry

Tuesday, February 26
Review at Historical Tapestry & The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader

Wednesday, February 27
Review at Read Write Reviews

Thursday, February 28
Guest Post at Read Write Reviews

Friday, March 1
Interview at Melissa’s Eclectic Bookshelf

Monday, March 4
Review at One More Page…Diary of a Book Lover

Tuesday, March 5
Guest Post at One More Page…Diary of a Book Lover

Wednesday, March 6
Review at Oh, for the Hook of a Book!

Thursday, March 7
Interview at Oh, for the Hook of a Book!

Friday, March 8
Review at A Bookish Affair

Monday, March 11
Review at Ageless Pages Reviews

Tuesday, March 12
Review at The Little Reader Library

Wednesday, March 13
Review at Tiny Library

Thursday, March 14
Review at The Broke and the Bookish
Review at Peeking Between the Pages

Friday, March 15
Review at The Worm Hole

Monday, March 18
Review at A Words Worth

Tuesday, March 19
Interview at A Words Worth

Wednesday, March 20
Review at Unabridged Chick
Review at Kincavel Korner

Thursday, March 21
Interview at Kincavel Korner

Friday, March 22
Review at The Calico Critic
Interview at Unabridged Chick

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One response to “Kate Forsyth on tour for Bitter Greens, February 25 – March 22”

  1. I adored this book, your readers/followers are in for an absolute treat!!!

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