He brought one very bad habit to their marriage. What was it?

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Anne and Charles ebook edition on promotion Oct. 3-10, 2019, 99 cents, 99 pence http://lrd.to/ANNEANDCHARLES Book One of the Anne of Brittany Series.

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Rising star spotlight on novelist Rozsa Gaston by InD’tale Magazine

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Read InD’tale Magazine’s full interview on novelist Rozsa Gaston here: http://magazine.indtale.com/magazine/2019/february/viewer/desktop/#page/30

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charles? Needs watching.–Anne of Brittany Series, Book One

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Discover the story of Anne of Brittany’s marriage to Charles VIII, King of France, in Anne and Charles, Book One of the Anne of Brittany Series.

Be inspired in 2019. Let Anne of Brittany’s story show you how.

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Find the Anne of Brittany Series here. Discover the keys to self-possession and self-confidence in the true story of this 15th century ruler.  Let 2019 be your year to fly.

BookBub announces new release Anne and Louis from Rozsa Gaston

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Anne and Louis

NYT bestselling author Eleanor Brown selects Anne and Louis by Rozsa Gaston for BookLife Prize finals

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Anne and Louis joins Sense of Touch and Anne and Charles in the Anne of Brittany Series.  Learn from early Renaissance ruler Anne of Brittany the power of self-possession and self-confidence.

Charles would need watching; was Anne of Brittany up for the job?

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From Anne and Charles, Book One of the Anne of Brittany Series

Order Anne and Charles, Book One of the Anne of Brittany Series, here.

Order Anne and Louis, Book Two of the Anne of Brittany Series, here.

Order Sense of Touch: Love and Duty at Anne of Brittany’s Court, prequel to the Anne of Brittany Series, here.

“Anne and Louis is a masterpiece that paints an extraordinary emotional and political vision of its times. Satisfying, educational, and hard to put down.”—D. Donovan, Midwest Book Review

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Anne and Louis
Passion and Politics in Early Renaissance France: The First Years of Anne of Brittany’s Marriage to Louis XII (Book Two of the Anne of Brittany Series)

Rozsa Gaston

Renaissance Editions: 2018

978-0-9847906-8-5 (pbk)              $14.95  Available on Amazon and Ingram

978-0-9847906-9-2 (ebook)          $2.99     Available on Amazon

www.renaissanceeditions.com

Anne and Louis: Passion and Politics in Early Renaissance France: The First Years of Anne of Brittany’s Marriage to Louis XII will delight readers of historical fiction who want their dramas firmly rooted in facts. This audience—especially those who enjoyed the first

Louis XII and Anne of Brittany by Francois-Seraphin Delpech

book in the Anne of Brittany series—will find a compelling continuation of the saga in this story of Anne, the Duchess of Brittany, who has a country to run even as her lover Louis has a controversial annulment to pursue in order to fulfill his romance with Anne.

Even more complicated are the politics which dictate their romance and relationship. This is an overlay which creates seemingly insurmountable controversies between the couple and their individual political circles, and is deftly explained by Rozsa Gaston, whose saga assumes no previous knowledge of Anne of Brittany, Louis XII, or French history and politics. This makes the tale accessible to both history buffs and those with a milder familiarity with the era.

At age 21, Anne was both a widow and the ruler of a kingdom, as committed to maintaining Brittany’s independence from France as she was in seeing her relationship with Louis become a bond between their countries.

Their struggles in 16th-century Europe on the cusp of the Renaissance era come to life as Anne finds herself caught between love and country.

Chapters don’t just build the characters and explore the issues between Anne and Louis, but also probe their world. Thus, the romances and relationships between others are also presented within the context of the social mores of their times (“When he looked up, Charlotte of Naples and Aragon was floating toward him in the full glory of her youth and serene beauty. He felt himself in the presence of a goddess. One day such a glorious creature would grow into a woman like his mother or the duchess Anne. For such a woman, an offer of marriage must follow a kiss. But first, a kiss. Her father would kill her; her mother would roll over in her grave. She had allowed him to take her hand.”).

Rozsa Gaston presents a rich, multifaceted universe through the eyes of a number of characters who interact with their world, which she spices with vivid descriptions to bring the setting to life through the eyes, experiences, and thoughts of many: “Anne of Brittany turned her back on her high-spirited charges to climb the final steps to the summit. At the top the flat marshy countryside spread out before her. In the late morning sunlight the bay of Mont-St.-Michel shimmered in the distance like a beckoning jewel. Beyond the bay was the Mor Breizh, also known as the Channel, the body of water over which Brittany’s settlers had traveled from the British Isles. She drank in the view as her lungs filled with fresh sea air.”

Adding to the feel of the story are lovely color artworks and images of the times, which pepper a saga that brings to life Anne’s concerns, her people, her romance, and her conundrums. From her distrust of Italian politics and her appetite for luxury to the impact of her relationship with Louis, yet another powerful strength to this story is its astute assessment of how the personalities of each affected their choices and political perceptions: “Her Louis was too nice a man to be entering into agreements with wily Italians seeking to take advantage of his innate decency. She would protect her husband’s interests while this sharp second secretary remained among them. Louis’ step sounded on the stairs above and all eyes turned. As Anne gazed at her husband’s beneficent expression and handsome yet careworn face, her heart hurt. She knew behind her, the shrewd young Florentine would be sizing him up and determining sooner rather than later that France’s king could be easily manipulated on the Italian peninsula.”

All this means that the story about a changing society as the Renaissance gets started is given a personal touch that brings the entire era to life through Anne’s eyes and the experiences of those who interact with her.

The result is a powerfully-written saga that requires only an interest in a compelling love story and its historical background to prove satisfying, revealing, educational, and hard to put down, all in one. Quite simply, Anne and Louis is a masterpiece that paints an extraordinary emotional and political vision of its times, capturing the facets of a social and political milieu that all too often is regulated to dry facts devoid of emotion.

—D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

Anne and Louis, Book Two of the Anne of Brittany Series, comes out Nov. 29, 2018. Pre-order here.

To begin your discovery of Renaissance ruler Anne of Brittany, read Anne and Charles, Book One of the Anne of Brittany Series.

Publishers Weekly says Anne and Charles comparable to Philippa Gregory’s Plantaganet and Tudor Novels

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Anne of Brittany and Charles VIII of France’s’ 15th century marriage problems? As contemporary as our own. Discover their story in Anne and Charles, Book One of the Anne of Brittany Series.

Anne and Charles Publishers Weekly review 4-2-18

Who was Anne of Brittany?

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Who was Anne of Brittany?
Her dates: 1477-1514.

Her personality?

Anne of Brittany by Jean Perreal, c. 1492

• Decidedly feminist.
• Delightfully feminine.
• Intelligent.
• Highly educated.
• Raised to rule over Brittany.
• Generous.
• Lavish in her spending.
• Imperious.
• Unyielding.
• Shrewd.
• Relentless.
• A bookworm.
• Pious.
• Lovingly conscientious to her husbands, both kings of France.
• Faithfully conscientious to her Breton subjects, over which she ruled from the age of eleven.

Anne of Brittany by Jean Perreal, c. 1492

Ever since picking up Mildred Allen Butler’s book on Anne of Brittany a few years ago (Twice Queen of France: Anne of Brittany. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1967), I’ve been fascinated by this French queen who came to power at age eleven as ruler of Brittany, then became queen of France at age fourteen.

Anne of Brittany’s travails trying to bring live children into the world rival any woman’s in history. This girl/woman went through the wringer as a mother. Her fourteen pregnancies resulted in the survival of two children, both daughters.The rest? Three miscarriages, five stillborn infants, one son dead after three hours, one daughter dead after one day, another son lived three weeks, her longest living son survived to age three when he succumbed to measles. As a public figure, this queen’s drama played out on the stage of all of France. If I had made this up, readers wouldn’t believe it. But it’s all true, and carefully historically documented.

I began to wonder why Anne of Brittany’s story is not well known. Many modern women share the same secret heartaches their medieval and ancient sisters suffered: pregnancy loss, inability to bring a live child into the world, inability to keep a child alive once born. Women still struggle with these issues and still suffer in silence when pregnancy and childbirth loss occurs. My heart aches for every one of them.

I wanted to bring alive Anne of Brittany’s tale for modern women, may of whom share her story in suffering and in courage. At the same time this brave woman endured continual personal tragedy she achieved great success as queen of France. She provides the world with an exceptional model of fortitude and resilience in the face of great personal suffering. Brava, Anne of Brittany!

• Anne of Brittany ruled over the most sophisticated court in Europe.

• She helped usher in the glories of the Renaissance from Italy to France. She ran the first finishing school for young women of noble birth, educating them in book learning and estate management and supplying or supplementing their dowries when they married.
• Both of Anne of Brittany’s husbands were madly in love with her. Neither considered putting her aside despite her inability to produce an heir for the throne of France. Her second husband, Louis XII of France, died less than a year after her death at the age of thirty seven. It was said that he never recovered from her death.
• Anne of Brittany was renown all over Europe as a matchmaker. Rulers of other European countries, including King Ferdinand of Spain after his wife Isabella’s death and the king of Hungary sought her advice in choosing a suitable spouse for them.

Cover painting by Anca Visdei, 2013, permission pending

I could say more, but I’ll save it for the sequel. Anne of Brittany: Girl Who Ruled a Country should arrive in early 2017. Meanwhile, please join me in discovering the remarkable historical figure of Anne of Brittany in my new release Sense of Touch.

Warmly,

Author Rozsa Gaston

Sense of Touch back cover