BleakChesneyWold

                       Review of new book and  on line chat with author Paul Williams                                              I have not really covered Jack the Ripper and the wider 'Ripperology' genre. Decided to make an exception for Paul Williams, an English writer who now lives in Australia. A specialist in Cryptozoology and the study of wolves in folklore, Paul has also written many articles for various history magazines, and has had some hundred short stories published. Most significantly, he is the author of Jack the Ripper Suspects : The Definitive Guide and Encyclopedia - which has 333 entries.  1. For people (like myself) who are not really knowledgeable about Jack the Ripper, which books, websites, online videos, are a good starting point to get an overview of the subject and some of the c...

                            Relevance of a Nonevent                 As a result of the Congress of Berlin 1878, the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, previously part of the Ottoman Empire, became under the management of the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, established in 1867. Austria had lost control of Lombardy (1859), and Venetia (1866). Austria-Hungary was now up against a largely unified Italy, and a unified Germany under Prussian control. It would have to look towards The Balkans if it wanted to extend its territory and influence. The Congress of Berlin also recognised the independence of Serbia, which the Ottoman Empire had lost control of since 1867. Franz Joseph had been emperor of Austria since 1848 . It was from reading the Dutch language book Schoten in Sarajevo by Mark de Geest , an intriguing 'parallel biography' of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his assas...

                                              From the British Library Tales of the Weird Catherine Crowe (1790-1872)  has been called the 'first ghost hunter' or the 'first paranormal investigator'. A fluent German speaker, Mrs Crowe translated The Seeress of Provorst (1829) by prominent German scientist Justinus Kerner ( who discovered botulism and somnambulism). She was also inspired by other German scientists such as Heinrich Jung-Stilling, Karl Eschenmayer, Joseph Ennemoser, and Gotthilf Henrich von Schubert. All who were interested in the spirit world as an extension of their own research.  Mrs Crowe also wrote a series of novels published from around 1841  including,  The Story of   Lilly Dawson   ,The Adventures of Susan Hopley  or Circumstancial Evidence (  her most famous work ),   The Adventures of a Beauty...

                                             Industrial  'social' novel from 1855                                       Introduction                               The Elizabeth Gaskell Society was established in 1985. During  the 2000's several of Mrs Gaskell's novels were televised.  North and South ,  Wives and   Daughters  and  Cranford  (which were three stories effectively rammed together). In 2014 the Manchester Historic Buildings Trust helped finance the opening of the Elizabeth Gaskell House at 84 Plymouth Road to the public, Mrs Gaskell's home from 1850- 1865. Now operates as a museum devoted to her work.  Mrs Gaskell wrote some several novels and a...

                                          Lake Geneva 10th September 1898  Empress Elisabeth ('Sisi'), was  empress of Austria from 1854 after marrying emperor Franz Joseph of the House of Habsburg whilst aged sixteen. Sisi was also crowned queen of Hungary in 1867,when the dual monarchy of Austria - Hungary was established.  In 1854 the Austrian empire was ten times the size of the modern-day EU member state. The largest country in Europe after Russia, its territory included Hungary,Slovenia, Croatia, Bohemia and Moravia, along with parts of what are now Italy, Roumania, Poland, and the Ukraine. Austria lost Lombardy in 1859 and Venetia in 1866 to the new united kingdom of Italy, but gained control of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878.  As a Bavarian princess ,the early life of Sisi was unconventional and quite carefree. Her royal pedigree was via her mother's side....

                          A lesser known Hardy novel : No classic but interesting.             It is hard to call The Well -Beloved   a 'lost classic' : Usually depicted as a novel for Hardy diehards only. In fact D.H.Lawrence described it as 'sheer rubbish' VICTORIAN WEB .  F.B.Pinion in his extensive survey of Hardy writings thought that the novel was 'light' and 'tragic-comic'. F.B.PINION   Hardy's recent biographer  Claire Tomalin advises that the novel began as  a lighthearted story  The Pursuit of the Well-Beloved  TOMALIN    T he first version was p ublished in weekly instalment form in The Illustrated News  from October-December 1892, this work was not published as a novel until 1897 with an extra portion, making it technically Hardy's last published novel. THOMAS HARDY SOCIETY. A new edition emerged in 1912 with some m...