About
I'm a retired secondary teacher, now teaching at Bradley University, Peoria, IL. I've written 12 books, including a young adult series of adventure and fantasy. Always a reader myself, I started to write and published my first book in 2002. Besides writing and teaching, I love to travel, spending a portion of each summer in Europe. Often at least one of my children goes with me. I never seem to get enough of travel and since all of my books are set in Europe, my travels are a source of information for me in writing.
Description
<p><span style="color:rgb(15,17,17);font-family:'Amazon Ember', Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;">What happens when a king loses his prowess? The day Henry IV could finally declare he had vanquished his enemies, he threw it all away with an infamous deed. No English king had executed an archbishop before. And divine judgment was quick to follow. Many thought he was struck with leprosy—God's greatest punishment for sinners. From that point on, Henry's health was cursed and he fought doggedly on as his body continued to betray him—reducing this once great warrior to an invalid. Fortunately for England, his heir was ready and eager to take over. But Henry wasn't willing to relinquish what he had worked so hard to preserve. No one was going to take away his royal prerogative—not even Prince Hal. But Henry didn't count on Hal's dauntless nature, which threatened to tear the royal family apart.</span></p>
Story Behind The Book
Life was difficult in the mid-nineteenth century Germany. Most people were suffering from distress and afflictions: economic conditions, religious freedom, famine, and political upheaal. The Pollmanns from Hummersen, Germany, were enduring just such tragedies. When the crops failed in the mid-1800s, Christian Pollmann reacted by formulating a plan to travel to the New World. The journey was an arduous one. Lack of food, sparse medical attention, cramped living space, and unadulterated filth were a few of the problems. The historical novel is based on facts yet is intertwined with fictional stories, helping readers to envision the immigrants' upheaval in the Old World, the undaunted passage across the Atlantic, and the struggle as they settled in the New World.
