Giveaway - By Her Hand by Marion Taffe
Time for a giveaway for our HNSA newsletter subscribers! Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers, there are 5 copies on offer of Marion Taffe’s debut novel, By Her Hand, about a young woman in the C10th century, who must choose whether to remain subservient with her fate lying in the hands of another, or fight for the right to create - and write - her own story.
About By Her Hand
She must write her rage ... to win her war.
Peak District, Mercia, AD 910: Freda works hard to avoid her father’s temper, while longing for his approval. She loves foraging in the woods and hearthside stories of heroes. Secretly she thinks in poetry and dreams of one day being able to write; her quills are grass stalks and sticks, her parchment the sky, the earth, her skin. But Freda’s world is at war, and when her village is decimated in a savage raid and her father goes missing, Freda must find the strength to survive.
Taken in by the church, her only options are a life of servitude or prayer. But a cunning bishop sees an opportunity. As well as teaching Freda to write, he uses her survival as evidence of a miracle so as to attract pilgrims who bring wealth. As Freda chafes against the bishop’s increasing control, she develops a friendship with the Mercian leader, Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, who shows her what it is to lead as a woman in a world that worships warrior kings.
Soon Freda must choose. Does she remain a powerless, subservient quill whose fate lies in the hands of another, or does she fight for the right to create – and write – her own story?
Set in the tumultuous early 10th century, By Her Hand is a beautifully written and propulsively plotted work of historical fiction with a strong feminist slant; Freda’s story is woven around that of the real-life story of Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, the forgotten warrior queen whose defiance and defeat of the Vikings helped forge the kingdom that became England. Beautifully written, it is a tribute to the wonder and chaos of girlhood, and a love letter to early English literature, the spirit of language and the power of story told in books, in blood, on skin, in communities and on the land around us, thoughts outside minds.
Praise for By Her Hand:
'I sank into this novel, knowing myself in sure hands. With meticulous research and deep empathy, Taffe invites us into the world of the tenth century, so unlike our own and yet, we discover, also familiar, a place of beauty and brutality, poetry and pain, longing and loss.' Robyn Cadwallader, The Anchoress
'Deft, vivid, intimate story-telling which reels us into a past that casts a bright, penetrating light' Sally Colin-James, One Illumined Thread
About Marion Taffe
Marion Taffe is a lifelong daydreamer. She was born in Melbourne, enjoyed a childhood on Magnetic Island in North Queensland and spent her teen years in her family’s historic Ballarat home, which was open to the public. She studied Arts at ACU in Ballarat and rowed for Australia in the Under 23 World Championships. Rowing led Marion to a cadetship in journalism and a twenty-year career in media, working at newspapers and magazines in Ballarat, Townsville, Manchester, the Gold Coast and Melbourne, where she was national features and travel editor at mX for eight years. She studied Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT where she was named Creative Industries Student of the Year in her graduating year of 2023. Marion was runner-up in the Grace Marion Wilson Emerging Writers Prize (non-fiction) in 2022 and a recipient of a Varuna Residential Fellowship in 2023.
How To Enter:
Ensure you are subscribed to the HNSA newsletter.
Leave a comment on this news post to go into the draw. 5 winners will be drawn via Random.org
Contest ends 26 March at 5pm AEDST. Good luck!
The contest is limited to Australian and New Zealand readers only.