The Reading Frenzy: Martine Bailey

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Interview with Martine Bailey - A Taste for Nightshade

Please welcome back to the blog Martine Bailey. She was here last year to talk about her debut novel, An Appetite for Violets and she's back now to chat about her new release A Taste for Nightshade. See what Martine has been up to in the past year.

ISBN-13: 9781250056924
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: 01-12-2016
Length: 464

Buy It: B&N/Amazon/Kobo/IndieBound

Overview

Manchester 1787. When budding young criminal Mary Jebb swindles Michael Croxon's brother with a blank pound note, he chases her into the night and sets in motion a train of sinister events. Condemned to seven years of transportation to Australia, Mary sends him a 'Penny Heart'-a token of her vow of revenge.

Two years later, Michael marries naïve young Grace Moore. Although initially overjoyed at the union, Grace quickly realizes that her husband is more interested in her fortune than her company. Lonely and desperate for companionship, she turns to her new cook to help mend her ailing marriage. But Mary Jebb, shipwrecked, maltreated, and recently hired, has different plans for the unsuspecting owners of Delafosse Hall.

A Taste for Nightshade is a thrilling historical novel that combines recipes, mystery and a dark struggle between two desperate women, sure to appeal to fans of Sarah Waters and Carolly Erickson.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

GIVEAWAY Interview with author Martine Bailey – An Appetite for Violets

Today I'm so pleased to introduce debut author and cook Martine Bailey enjoy our interview learn how she incorporated her love of food into her writing and then enter to win your very own copy of An Appetite for Violets generously sponsored by Martine's publisher St. Martin's Press. Giveaway details below
Bon Appétit!

ISBN-13: 9781250056917
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication date: 1/13/2015
Edition description: First Edition
Pages: 400

Overview

“That’s how it is for us servants. No one pays you much heed; mostly you're invisible as furniture. Yet you overhear a conversation here, and add a little gossip there. Then you find something, something you should not have found.”

Irrepressible Biddy Leigh, under-cook at forbidding Mawton Hall, only wants to marry her childhood sweetheart and set up her own tavern. But when her elderly master marries young Lady Carinna, Biddy is unwittingly swept up in a world of scheming, secrets, and lies. Forced to accompany her new mistress to Italy, she documents her adventures and culinary discoveries in an old household book of recipes, The Cook’s Jewel. Biddy grows intrigued by her fellow travelers, but her secretive and unconventional mistress is the most intriguing of all.

In London, Biddy finds herself attracted to her mistress’s younger brother. In France, she discovers her mistress’s dark secret. At last in Italy, Biddy becomes embroiled in a murderous conspiracy, knowing the secrets she holds could be a key to a better life, or her downfall.

Inspired by eighteenth-century household books of recipes and set at the time of the invention of the first restaurants, An Appetite for Violets is a literary feast for lovers of historical fiction. Martine Bailey's novel opens a window into the fascinating lives of servants, while also delivering a suspenseful tale of obsession and betrayal.