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A Novelist’s Fanciful Obsession with a Dark-Eyed Knight Becomes Reality in BEFORE I WAKE, a Historical Time-Travel Romance by Mary Ellen Johnson 13th Century England, Tintagel Castle
Historical novelist Magdalena Moore is haunted by the black-haired, black-eyed knight she first encountered during a past life regression. Across a lifetime, Magdalena searches for the truth about Ranulf Navarre and Jane Dreigh.
At Tintagel Castle, Magdalena is miraculously transported to thirteenth-century England, where she is Lady Jane, and Lord Navarre is her husband. But Ranulf is not the man of her imagination.
Why is Ranulf so cold and Janey so erratic? What secrets are they hiding? When England plunges into civil war, Ranulf backs the wrong side. Knowing he is destined to die in battle, Magdalena tries desperately to cheat fate, save Ranulf, and finally find happiness. But secrets can ruin everything, and Magdelena’s secret is too fantastical to be believed.
Publisher’s Note: Readers passionate about history will appreciate the author’s penchant for detail and accuracy. In keeping with the era, this story contains scenes of brutality which are true to the time and man’s timeless inhumanity. There are a limited number of sexual scenes with some vulgarity characteristic of the time.
From the Author: I like to think BEFORE I WAKE is the life I might have lived–had I made a lot of unfortunate relationship choices and been transported back to thirteenth century Cornwall. The kernel of my tale is true. As a young wife and mother, I did undergo a past life regression, which I detail pretty much as it happened in BEFORE I WAKE. While I’d always been drawn to medieval England and had already started working on what would become my first historical romance, The Lion and the Leopard, that particular regression–whether real or simply a manifestation of my imagination–has stayed with me.
THE TRAVELS ACROSS TIME SERIES Before I Wake Eternal Beloved
THE KNIGHTS OF ENGLAND, in series order The Lion and the Leopard A Knight There Was Within A Forest Dark A Child Upon The Throne Lords Among the Ruins The Flames of Rebellion
MEET MARY ELLEN JOHNSON Her passion for Medieval England sparked Mary Ellen Johnson’s writing career. Her first medieval historical, The Lion and the Leopard, was followed by The Landlord’s Black-Eyed Daughter, a historical novel based on the Alfred Noyes poem, The Highwayman. (Published under the pseudonym, Mary Ellen Dennis.) Landlord was chosen as one of the top 100 historical romances of 2013.
After taking a twenty-year detour in a quixotic quest to change the world–rather like Arthurian knights’ quests to find the holy grail, which ended in similar failure–Mary Ellen has happily returned to historical fiction writing and her favorite time period, the tumultuous fourteenth century. Her six-book series, Knights of England, follows the fortunes of the characters (and their progeny) introduced in The Lion and the Leopard through the Black Death, the reign of that most gloriously medieval of monarchs, Edward III, the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, and ends with the deposition and murder of Richard II in 1399.
There is nothing Mary Ellen loves more than bringing Medieval England alive for the reader. She particularly enjoys researching battles, campaigns, the daily lives of both lord and peasant, and trying to figure out our ancestors’ thought processes, particularly how they viewed their world. Oh, and did she mention the castles and cathedrals? Mary Ellen likes to say her favorite place in the world is standing before the tomb of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral. (Hyperbole, of course, since Mary Ellen is not that well-traveled and her favorite places are probably wherever her kids and grandkids reside.)
However–and the very recounting gives her chills–a distant cousin recently shared the results of her years-long genealogical research on the family tree. When flipping back through the centuries, Mary Ellen began finding hauntingly familiar names–John of Gaunt, Edward the Black Prince, Edward II, Edward III, even Richard the Lionheart! All the historical characters she’s spent a lifetime reading and writing about! How can that be? Genetic memory? Reincarnation? She has no idea, but you can bet she’ll be exploring the possibilities in future novels!
