New Cover

I have again changed the cover of my new book as I always do.  Below is a copy of it. It has also been entered in the Storyteller 2020 contest.   Oh, and it is now available on Amazon.  Yay!

The Maze

St Louis Botanical Garden's (Public Domain)

Have you ever been in a Maze? The reason I’ve brought up this topic is because there is a Maze in my newest book, A Girl and Her Chateau. The idea came from the 1953 film, the Maze which I first saw years ago staying up late as a teen. It is a gothic romance about a young woman whose fiancé inherits a Scottish title and castle with a maze and among other things a family curse. There is no family curse in my story nor is it a gothic romance but it is the whole idea of how the maze stirs up feelings of excitement for some and others, fear. And in earlier times mazes were probably only found on the grounds of castles or monasteries.




When I think of a maze I think of a towering hedge with lots of intricate pathways. It is in fact a puzzle with lots of pathways and dead ends designed to confuse the competitor from finding the exit somewhere on the other side. Mazes are something that stimulate mixed feelings. Some might feel fearful at the thought of going in a maze while others might see it as adventure. They can be made of different materials but most commonly hedges. “They are often made of yew, boxwood and yaupon holly. Corn Mazes are also very popular.” (Stafford)


Mazes originate from ancient times thousands of years ago but were originally more of a labyrinth which is a single winding path whereas Mazes have lots of dead ends. “Although both maze and labyrinth depict a complex and confusing series of pathways, the two are different. A maze is a complex, branching (multi-cursal) puzzle that includes choices of path and direction, while a labyrinth is a unicursal and has only a single non-branching path which leads to the center. (Diffen)


The Labyrinth was created thousands of years ago for spiritual reflection. The first recorded labyrinth was in Egypt in the 5th Century B.C. Plato once said, “It is a confusing path, hard to follow without a thread, but, provided [you are] not devoured at the midpoint, it leads surely, despite twists and turns, back to the beginning.”


The labyrinth evolved during the middle ages into what is now known as the maze. It served as a great pastime during the Victorian era and has become popular since. There are many mazes throughout Britain and Europe and they are often found at castles and monasteries and chateaus. The oldest maze is the one at Hampton Court Palace and the largest is at the Longleat Estate.

Hampton Court (Public Domain)

The Hampton Court Maze was commissioned around the year 1700 by William III. “It covers a third of an acre and is known for confusing and intriguing visitors with its many twists, turns and dead ends. On average, it takes 20 minutes to reach the centre. The Maze was designed by George London and Henry Wise and is trapezoid in shape. Originally planted using hornbeam, it was later replanted using yew. It is referred to as a multicursal or puzzle maze.” (HRP.org.uk)

Maze at Longleat (Public Domain)

The Maze at Longleat was added in 1978 and is the largest in Britain. It is made of 16,000 yew trees. (Longleat.co.uk.)


Below are some links to popular maze sites.




https://www.longleat.co.uk/main-square/hedge-maze retrieved on 25 May, 2020
https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/whats-on/the-maze/ retrieved on 25 May, 2020
https://www.diffen.com/difference/Labyrinth_vs_Maze retrieved on 25 May, 2020

Stafford, Jeff, Garden Mazes Create A Sense Of Wonder, retrieved on May 17, 2020 at https://www.hgtv.com

A Girl And Her Chateau

What would you do if you received a phone call today that you had inherited a castle or manor house? A distant relative has passed away and you are the only living heir and it’s someone you didn’t even know about. One minute you are Jane Doe and the next you are Jane of the castle who has everything. This is the theme of my latest book called, A Girl And Her Chateau.

Vivienne De Lacy is the main character and she feels quite ill prepared as she discovers that she is the next chatelaine of the Chateau Des Rosier. Vivienne is a lovely thirty year old who has been left heartbroken after the failure of a prior relationship. She has a flair for the art deco style and wears her hair in a finger wave and dresses in the fashions of the 1920s and 40’s. She has exquisite taste and soon joins a group of chatelaine’s who have left the simple life in England and bought into a piece of France’s history with the purchase of a grand chateau.

She has a background in art, fashion and decorating but this is a huge job. This isn’t just a large two story mansion. This is a 17th century French castle with a 100 rooms and it hasn’t been lived in for thirty years. Where to begin? There are hundreds of jobs to be done. The fairytale stigma soon wears off when Vivienne moves into the house with her two dogs and discovers the horrors of decades and centuries of neglect. It’s not a job for the faint-hearted.

Restoration work is not easy and Vivienne can’t wait to get the fabric and wallpaper swatches out but the underlying work must be done first. Luke the caretaker tells her, “It is a huge job and once you start pulling things apart the sins of the previous generations are revealed,” a statement pretty close to the truth. Vivienne faces renovating every room, heating and plumbing problems. Giant glass window panes need replacing and water is leaking in through the roof.

And sparks fly when Vivienne meets Jack Perry, the gorgeous young man from the chateau Blanc, but they are not just sparks of romance as the pair irritate each other at times and Jack is a bit of a joker full of unusual pranks that leave Vivienne swooning but frustrated. Enjoy this heart warming story as Vivienne restores a French Chateau and goes to glamorous house parties as in the styles of the 1920s.

New Book To Be Available Soon!

A Girl And Her Chateau

by Anna St George

For fashionable, gorgeous Vivienne De Lacy the idea of inheriting a chateau seems ridiculous at first but she soon gets caught up in the whole magic and enchantment of a 17^th Century chateau, and the idea of French couture living and masque balls. After all it’s a grand building with sixty rooms and glorious fairy tale towers on each corner and set on a hundred acres of rolling hills and prime woodland. But the fairy tale dream soon turns to a nightmare when she discovers the chateau has many challenges such as a leaky roof, dry rot and decades of neglect and what’s worse, she can’t speak a word of French.  

She soon makes friends among the local group of chateau owners and she is kindly informed by Mrs Jones that, ‘Owning a chateau is not a venture for the faint-hearted my dear. It takes courage to walk through those doors and face the reality behind the dream. It’s a horror facing dry rot, broken pipes and decades of dust and getting up some days to roofs that have collapsed during the night. And you think you’re moving into a house that has been vacant for decades but it’s anything but vacant. Mice and birds and spiders have been living in it for centuries.”   

 How will this fashionable city girl from London, used to all the mod cons, cope with a vast chateau out in the countryside and all the mounting problems that come with it? And then there is matter of Jack Perry from a local chateau who has the undeniable skill of completely irritating her, however he is extremely handsome and charming and he has a talent for pressing all the right buttons. And then there are those she would rather bury her head in the sand and forget like Celia Grande a woman with too high an opinion of herself who also has her eyes on Jack Perry and a determination to make sure that Vivienne’s business venture of opening the chateau to the public is a failure. Vivienne isn’t one to give up, however, this overwhelming challenge threatens to take her under.  

Characters To Remember

I have written before on my favorite writers but not really on the my favorite book characters. On the about me page I've listed a few of my favorite writers; Sir Walter Scott and Jane Austen and like I said it is quite a contrast but I like a wide range of authors and types of writing.

So firstly, my favorite Sir Walter Scott character is Ivanhoe, the famous chivalrous Anglo Saxon knight and in the 1952 film, Robert Taylor portrays him beautifully. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. The story takes place in South Yorkshire which I concluded from the places that are mentioned in the beginning; the River Don, Sheffield, and Doncaster. The hero of the book has just returned from the Crusades in disguise and he faces many challenges when he returns. His father has disinherited him for supporting the Norman King Richard and he is in love with Lady Rowena his father's ward who he has promised to Lord Athelstane in hopes he can revive Anglo Saxon Power. What I liked about him the most is that he is a brave and chivalrous knight upholding the Code of Chivalry. The Code of Chivalry was started in the 12^th Century and was a code of conduct established to give knights something to measure themselves against and to know how to behave especially with a Lady. According to http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/ The Song of Roland lists the Code of Chivalry as follows:

To fear God and maintain His Church

To serve the liege lord in valour and faith

To protect the weak and defenceless

To give succour to widows and orphans

To refrain from the wanton giving of offence

To live by honour and for glory

To despise pecuniary reward

To fight for the welfare of all

To obey those placed in authority

To guard the honour of fellow knights

To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit

To keep faith

At all times to speak the truth

To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun

To respect the honour of women

Never to refuse a challenge from an equal

Never to turn the back upon a foe

I won't detail all of the individual codes but point out my two favorite examples. At the tournament of Ashby de la Zouche Ivanhoe presents Lady Rowena with the crown of love and beauty, a public declaration of his heart of love for her. He shows her great honor by presenting her with a crown since she is an Anglo Saxon Lady and thus setting her above all the other ladies present. Later in the novel, his chivalrous conduct is exemplified when he defends the honor of the lovely Rebecca, the daughter of a wealthy Jew. She is unjustly tried and convicted of witchcraft and Ivanhoe saves her life by fighting in a joust to the death by defeating his greatest opponent, the Norman knight Brian de Bois Guilbert. Again he shows great respect by defending her since she is of the Hebrew Faith and he is a Christian knight.

My favorite Jane Austen character is a difficult choice. I love all her characters. I think that for the time they are set in and written in they portray strong characters. There is outspoken Lizzie Bennet and determined matchmaker Emma Woodhouse, and of course the charming Dashwood sisters and Fanny Price. However, I think I would have to especially mention Anne Elliot, the heroine of Persuasion who is slightly older and considered almost past her chances of marrying and in danger of becoming a spinster. I think she was the most mature of Austen's work which is portrayed in the way she handles the return of a man she had jilted ten years earlier. She had been in love with Frederick Wentworth but was persuaded by Lady Russell to break the engagement as it was considered an unsuitable match for an Elliot. 

Ten years have past and Wentworth is now a wealthy naval captain. In fact their social situations have almost reversed and Wentworth is now very Wealthy and Anne's family have come into financial difficulty and must move from the family home. And what's worse is that Wentworth's sister and husband acquire the Elliot estate and Anne is forced to visit her own home with the man she jilted staying there. She must face him again and she soon discovers that her feelings haven't changed and there is the possibility that he will marry one of the Musgrove sisters, Louisa or Henrietta. She is very brave as she deals with the awkwardness, hiding her innermost feelings for there is no one she can share it with. She bares it as a saint watching him flirt and mingle with the two lovely young girls knowing that one of them might become his wife and her feelings for him haven't changed and she is forced into social situations where she must face him. I think it is one of Austen's most realistic characters. It's a little more melancholy than her other stories and draws more on the emotions.

I have many literary characters that inspire me and could spend hours studying them and these are just a few. I'll save the rest for another time.

A Few of My Favourite Things

I love writing and it's my favourite thing to do but sometimes I like to have a break and do something different. I have several hobbies and I like collecting old books, and doing artwork. I make paper and fabric sculptures and paint pictures of woodland creatures. And I must confess sometimes I do that when I should be writing but I really do love browsing through second hand book stores to see what I can add to my growing collection. This week I added three books. Since I love art, especially illustrative art, I like to collect children's books. I know it might seem strange collecting children's books but I love the artwork in them and one day I'll give them to my grandchildren. This week I was lucky to find a hard cover illustrated version of the Wind in the Willows. See below and some lovely illustrations from it.

 And I found one book for me in pretty good condition from 1969. It's just over fifty years old and called, The Scarlet Pimpernel which is about an English spy during the French Revolution for those of you who aren't familiar with it. I love the pretty gold scroll work on the cover. I have a version of Lorna Doone like that as well published around the same time. Below is a copy of the title page. Some times people write messages in them which is lovely. I have a copy of Tom Brown's School Days from 1920's and there is a lovely hand written message on the title page. It says, To Richard, first prize for knowledge of catechism. I love when people put messages in books, especially when you find one from an older time. It's priceless. 

So as far as my own writing is concerned I'm polishing up a book I rescued from the closet and a couple of others as well which is progressing. And I always seem to have too many ideas for a book and sometimes I just let the ideas mull at the back of my mind for awhile before I decide what I'm going to do and I scribble ideas and draw characters in my notebook until it all comes together. I think I'm at that point at the moment of starting a completely new project and I just may be working on two at the same time as one of them will take a while to write. Anyway best get back to the writing page. Happy reading and writing until next time.  

Kingdom Of Lions by Anna St George

Tales of Old England

 The Kingdom of Lions is set in the 12th century England in a time of Castles with gallant knights and beautiful ladies.It is a tale of suspense, mystery, love and honour.  The scene is a mist laden landscape with interesting characters affected by troubling times with rumours of wars and marriage arrangements that arise to dictate the state of holy matrimony.

Gwendolyn Godwyn is the youngest of the Godwyn clan, a medieval tomboy who loves horses and hounds and shooting from a crossbow. Her outright opinions about everything and her loyal cause to the animal kingdom get her in trouble from time to time.  And why did that Welsh Prince have to be so gorgeous? He was incredibly annoying. Her beautiful sister Ceridwyn is about to become the trophy of a prestigious tournament and will the winner be the man she is besotted with or will it be someone else. Her sister Meridyth has learned the hard, bitter way that not all are lucky in love.  Her family are faithful to God and country and when conspiracies arise to oust the king, courage arises to the cause of righteousness. The prodigal daughter suddenly returns home after being away for almost ten years along with a mysterious arrival in the night. Their lives will never be the same again.

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