Jacey Bedford's Journal

My new novel, Winterwood, is due very soon. Publication date is Tuesday 2nd February. I don't have actual copies of the mass market paperback yet, but I have copies of the Advance Reading Copy, a trade-paperback size. If anyone here would like a copy to review, please email me direct via my website at http://www.jaceybedford.co.uk. Unlike my first two books, this one is historical fantasy.

I've been delighted to get a few good reviews already, including ones from Publishers Weekly. It was also a Top Pick at RT where their reviewer said: "seamlessly blends history, magical lore, high seas adventure and romance into one fantastic story" . The latest review today at the Bibliosanctum, which said lovely things like: "The best thing about Winterwood is its many fascinating components, which Jacey Bedford weaves into one amazing story of magic and adventure. Rollicking action is expertly balanced with passionate romance in this novel which will leave you salivating for more, and I loved every moment!" - Well, I can live with that.

So here's the rundown...

WINTERWOOD

It's 1800. Mad King George is on the British throne, and Bonaparte is hammering at the door. Magic is strictly controlled by the Mysterium, but despite severe penalties, not all magic users have registered. Integral to many genteel households is an uncomplaining army of rowankind bondservants, so commonplace that no one recalls where they came from.

Ross Tremayne, widowed, cross-dressing privateer captain and unregistered witch, likes her life on the high seas, accompanied by a boatload of swashbuckling, barely-reformed pirates and the jealous ghost of her late husband, Will. When she pays a bitter deathbed visit to her long-estranged mother she inherits a half-brother she didn't know about, and a magical winterwood box containing task she doesn't want. Depending on who you believe it could right a terrible wrong or it could bring about the downfall of Britain. There's a man - a deadly government agent - willing to use all his considerable powers to prevent Ross from opening the box.
Enter Corwen. He's handsome, sexy, clever and capable, and Ross really doesn't like him; neither does Will's ghost. Can he be trusted? Whose side is he on?

Unable to chart a course to her future until she's unravelled the mysteries of the past, Ross has to avoid the not altogether unwelcome attentions of a dashing but dangerous pirate; evade a ruthless government agent who fights magic with darker magic; and brave the hitherto hidden Fae. Only then can she open the magical winterwood box and solve the problem. Unfortunately success may prove fatal to both Ross and her new brother, and disastrous for the country. By doing the 'right' thing is Ross going to unleash a terrible evil? Is her enemy the real hero and Ross the villain? Should she open the box or let sleeping magic lie.

Whichever choice Ross makes it's going to reverberate down the centuries.