BleakChesneyWold

                Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) Makes a Stand   This is a follow up to the previous  Battle of Solferino 1859  post from this blog.  Series 2 of the Netflix series  The Empress,  based upon the life of Empress Elizabeth of Austria ( better known as 'Sisi') ended with the start of the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859. Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, has to fight off the French under Napoleon III and their Italian allies led by Victor Emanuel II of Piedmont from taking the provinces of Lombardy and Venetia, part of the Austrian Empire. Series 3  of The Empress  will presumably open with the Battle of Solferino in Lombardy. Technically a French and Piedmontese victory. Yet the horror of the battlefield was one of the factors that led to Napoleon III agreeing a peace treaty with Franz Joseph at Villa Franca, and leaving the campaign. A Swiss observer to the carnage at the...

                               " What a terrible thing War is "  (attributed to) Napoleon III                                    The village of Solferino, is located in the province of Mantua, Lombardy, in the north of Italy, and lies some 10 km south of Lake Garda. Also the site of a battle that took place on 24th June 1859, the highlight of the Second Italian War of independence, and a key date for  the overall Italian Unification process. The armies of the Austrian Empire were defeated by the French along with their allies, the Kingdom of Piedmont and Sardinia. Solferino was the largest European battle since the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1814. Two emperors, Napoleon III and Franz Joseph, were with their forces at Solferino,as was King Victor Emmanuel II. Certainly from the French side, the railwa...

              Spirit Tales From Beyond The Veil -Edited by Emily Vincent                                                         Summoned to the Seance is one of the larger collections from the 'British Library Tales of the Weird' series, contains 12 stories, a chapter from a H G Wells' novel, and an extract from a Robert Browning poem. Edited with an introduction by Emily Vincent, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in English Literature at the University of Birmingham. Published in 2024.  It not really clear if there is such a genre as 'Seance Fiction', distinct from Ghost Stories or Weird / Horror Tales. A common theme would be a seance with a medium, or perhaps  someone using  a planchette to make a deliberate attempt to contact the Dead. But even then not all the writings on offer here meet the ...

                          If the enemy lands next Autumn    The Trumpet Major and his Brother Robert (1880) is generally considered Hardy's lightest novel. Also the only one which could be called 'historical'.  It is set on the Dorset coast in 1803-1805 centred round the mill village of 'Overcombe' ( Sutton Poyntze) not far from Budmoth (Weymouth)  and overshadowed by the Napoleon's threat to invade southern England. Small communities are impacted by parading soldiers and later the Press Gang make their presence known. News sheets circulate warnings of Napoleon's mobilisation across the Channel at Boulogne. A warning beacon stands ready to be lit if needed. At one point a rumour circulates stating that Napoleon's 'Army of England' has landed. And villagers start to leave their homes.  The plot is centred around  a young lady from Overcombe -Anne Garland-and three potential husbands: The local...

                                              Serious Treatment of Unreality  ' The Weird Tales of William Hope Hodgson, edited by Xavier Aldana Reyes, is  part of the British Library Tales of the Weird series, published in 2019. Contains ten short stories.  William Hope Hodgson was born in Whetherfield, Essex in 1877: His father was the Reverend Samuel Hodgson, who was placed by the Church in different stipends, including at Middlesburgh, Nottinghamshire, Battersea, then Ireland, and finally became curate of All Saints Church in Blackburn in 1890. William was educated at school in Margate, and settled with his family in Blackburn for a year before serving in the Merchant Navy from 1891-1900. The sea became an important setting for much of his subsequent fiction, which is reflected in the above collection. TIMELINE The Blackburn Weekly Telegraph obituary of 2...

                       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...