In fact, he loved cigars and found smoking very relaxing. Other fun facts about the author: His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. His father died of pneumonia when he was 12, and Mark Twain became an apprentice printer at the Missouri Courier. Later, he wrote for local newspapers. The author also worked as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi river. He got his pen name, Mark Twain, from steamboat slang for 12…
Tag: civil war
Andrew Joyce’s Journey as a Writer
The following is a guest post by Andrew Joyce, author of Molly Lee. If you would like to write a guest post on my blog, please send me an e-mail at contact@cecilesune.com. My name is Andrew Joyce, and I write books for a living. Cécile has been kind enough to allow me a little space on her blog to promote my new book, Molly Lee. The story is a female-driven account…
Did you know that Louisa May Alcott was addicted to opium?
She began using morphine to ease the after-effects of typhoid fever contracted while working as a nurse during the Civil War. The illness was at the time treated with mercury, which caused pain, weakness and hallucinations to the patients. In addition, Louisa May Alcott sometimes suffered from deep depression. In fact, she might even have been bipolar. Other interesting facts about the author: Her parents supported the abolition of slavery…
Mary Norton: Soldier Girl by D. Lawrence-Young
The following is a guest post by D. Lawrence-Young, author of Mary Norton: Soldier Girl. If you would like to write a guest post on my blog, please send me an e-mail at contact@cecilesune.com. About the Book Mary Norton is a 17th-century young woman who runs away from home in Bristol to escape from her violent and abusive father. Uneducated and unwilling to become just another servant or someone’s whore she…
The Mapmaker’s Children by Sarah McCoy
It is 1859 in North Elba, NY, and John Brown is actively helping slaves escape to Canada via the Underground Railroad. His daughter, Sarah, has just learnt that she can’t have children after a recent bout of dysentery, and she is more determined than ever to help her father, using her artistic abilities to draw maps to show slaves the way to safety. In a parallel story, in the summer…