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Sometimes a happy ending takes a few generations.

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Writing Historical Fiction

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When writing a historical novel—which I consider any story taking place in another time period—attention to historical detail is paramount, unless you don’t mind irritating your readers. Readers of historical fiction are a savvy group and will notice things like inventions and events appearing prematurely in a story.

After releasing Coulson’s Wife, my first attempt at historical fiction, the reviews on my historical accuracy were favorable. However, there was one reviewer who, while she claimed to like the book, questioned the historical accuracy of several things mentioned in the story. She didn’t know if hysterectomies, refrigerated milk, or movies existed in the timeframe mentioned in the story (around 1918).

The answer: yes.

According to my research, the first hysterectomy was performed around 75 years before the character in my story had one.

As for refrigerated milk, I suppose her real question, did they have refrigerators back then? According to Wikipedia, the home refrigerator was invented in 1913. Before that time, they used iceboxes.

The final question—movies. I didn’t just mention movies, I mentioned a specific movie—one that was actually released at the time it is mentioned in the story: Tarzan of the Apes. Like Mary Ellen in Coulson’s Wife, it is one of my favorite books. As for that old movie—you can watch it here, on YouTube.

In my opinion, writers in the future are going to have a challenging task adhering to historical accuracy when writing a story taking place during the last decades of the 20th century, considering the rapid technological changes that occurred, and the advent of social media. Lucky for them, they will have Google—or maybe something better—to fact check.

What reviewers are saying about Coulson’s Wife

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On Monday Coulson’s Wife received its 250th Amazon review. The last eleven reviews posted are either 4 or 5-stars—with seven of those being 5-stars! As I write this post, the book has a 4-star average on Amazon.

Of course, not everyone loves Coulson’s Wife. Some readers hate it. While it’s received 105 5-stars and 78 4-stars to date, fifteen reviewers gave it a 1-star. But that’s okay. I don’t expect everyone to love or even like my writing. But the fact it has resonated with a group of readers brings me more than a smile.

Coulson’s Wife is not for everyone. Here are a few things readers (who enjoyed the book) said about Coulson’s Wife.

I do not remember crying so hard. I never cry while reading, but this book brought tears to my eyes.

I was surprised to find myself so absorbed into the story, I even cried.

I haven’t found a book in quite some time that held my interest enough that I could read it in one sitting. This book did it!

I’m so glad I finally read it because it’s one of the best books I have read for a while.

A splendid story where there’s really no good guys and bad guys but friends, family, employees making the best of situations they could not control beginning right before 1900 and taking us through to about 1950.

The twists and turns kept you off balance, and intrigued.

This book is so different than any other romance novel out there. The description doesn’t do the book justice because it’s much greater than it.

Haunting.

I got this free on my Kindle and what a terrific surprise. The author has an incredible way of weaving the story line along with historical references.

I loved this book! A sweet, romantic love story! Not your typical “red-hot; alpha male; hop in the sack for heavy sex” type of book.

Amazing, wonderful, moving, all the things that I can say. I laughed and cried.

Had some tears coming down, but I did love the ending but wish it didn’t end like that. So recommend it!!!

A wonderful love story that keeps you involved and begging for more till the end!!

I really don’t want to give out any spoilers, but this book surpassed my expectations. I downloaded this on a whim and didn’t think it was gonna be all that good. Now as I write this review at 3 o’clock in the morning after just completing this masterpiece, I am now going to start book 2.

This is a real grabber. I could not put it down till I finished it at one sitting. This is a story of frustrated love and fulfilled love that keeps the reader in suspense. Great read.

I LOVED this book…thank you…best book I’ve read in a long time.

The characters are developed and grow over time. The plot was also well developed and kept me interested. I recommend this book.

History strongly weaved in and out of this story which I loved. Everything about this book kept my attention. The story was focused on relationships without the details of sex.

A wonderful read!!! Engaging from the very beginning. I planned to simply preview the book to see if it would appeal to me for a future time. Instead, I was drawn in at the very beginning and continued to read until it was finished, a one day read.

I like a book that touches all of my emotions. It made me happy, sad, laugh and even cry.

This was a remarkable book about complicated romance and relationships during a time in history when the world was quickly changing.

The characters become real as the reader is swept along as the story unfolds.

This was a very moving book which I read in one day. Great story and although it says book 1 it was a standalone novel.

I loved this book. I never got bored. Several surprises. Warm and a beautiful story of a woman who loved deeply.

Read it in one day. The best book I have read in ages.

More than a story, I found Coulson’s wife to be a journey with the characters. A well edited piece of art where a couple of human generations are neatly squeezed in, yet detailed where it really matters.

It was just raw and real.

I read a lot of romance novels and this one stands out as one of the better ones.

(You can download Coulson’s Wife for FREE at most eBook venues.)