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Aiki Flinthart
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Blackbirds Sing: A Ruadhan Sidhe Origin Story (A Ruadhan Sidhe Novel) Kindle Edition

by Aiki Flinthart (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 16 ratings
See all formats and editions
Four-and-twenty extraordinary women; one chance to save a kingdom.

What would you sacrifice to save your family, your loved ones, yourself?

In September 1486, the reign of King Henry VII of England is again threatened by York loyalists. The only thing standing in the way is a four-hundred-year-old sidhe who just wants to be left alone, and a group of London women with a lot to lose if England is plunged back into war.

But, in 1486, women have no power. Only the ability to make difficult choices and sometimes-heartbreaking sacrifices.

Become immersed in the fascinating, perilous lives of these women, as told through the medium of 25 interwoven short stories. A prostitute selling her daughter’s virginity to pay her debts; a nun returning to the world after 30 years; laundress whose son is murdered; a lady’s maid hiding her Jewish culture; a blind musician running from a forced marriage; and more.

Each story is a piece in the puzzle. Each woman faces her own trials as she plays her small part in the desperate attempt to protect King Henry and his wife, Elizabeth of York.

Because if they fail, England will once again be thrust into civil war between the Yorks and Lancasters. And these four-and-twenty women have already sacrificed too much.
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  1. Book 5 of 5
    A Ruadhan Sidhe Novel
  2. Print length
    448 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    December 1, 2019
  6. File size
    16069 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A masterfully woven tale that is an absolute delight to read. I adored that each chapter told the story of a different woman, so by the end I felt I knew every woman of import in London 1486AD. Every character is crafted to perfection, clearly portraying their life and class within the larger tale, that was gritty, vivid and fascinating to read.
Perfect for anyone who loves a good historical yarn. I would highly recommend grabbing this one in hard book form, as the beautiful artwork will make it a treasured addition to any bookshelf. Bravo, Aiki, a clever saga that is quite the masterpiece."

Traci Harding - Author of The Ancient Future Series

"Fascinating portrait of the lives of a brilliant cast of Tudor women - treason, intrigue, plots-within-plots, loyalty, courage and Sidhe magic... what more could you ask of a historical fantasy? Ambitious, intricate and entertaining. Highly recommended for lovers of both historical fiction and fantasy alike."

Pamela Freeman - Award-winning author of The Castings Trilogy

"Blackbirds Sing- astunning read! Flinthart's gift for prose gives a world gritty enough to tasteand characters who transcend the limit of the page. Her women are built withcores of iron and the men should bepitied for their ignorance of that strength. With the true skill of an artist,Aiki Flinthart has woven a captivating and sincerely clever novel!"

Pamela Jeffs - Author of Saloons and Stardust

About the Author

Aiki Flinthart lives in Australia, with her husband, teenage son, aging dog and directionally-challenged fish.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07Z1BDZKC
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ CAT Press (December 1, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 1, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 16069 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Aiki Flinthart

Aiki Flinthart

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Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Aiki lives in Australia and hasn't yet died from ANY wildlife encounter. Go figure.

She has numerous published sci-fantasy and fantasy novels, plus an action-y romance with a kickarse heroine. She has also edited a couple of short story anthologies and has a number of her own short stories in various e-magazines and anthologies.

Her works have been shortlisted in the Australian Aurealis awards and in the USA Writers of the Future competition.

When not writing, she runs a business and does heroine-approved hobbies such as martial arts, archery, knife-throwing, lute-playing, and belly-dancing.

You're more than welcome to check out more details at www.aikiflinthart.com

Always love to hear from happy readers.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
16 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

L.E. Daniels
5.0 out of 5 stars A Treasure Trove
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2020
Verified Purchase
What a remarkable treasure trove. An extremely well-researched and seamless read, the voices of these women rise from the past effortlessly. This novel is a marvel.
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Barnesm
5.0 out of 5 stars Gramercy 24 intriguing women in a deftly crafted plot to save 15 century England
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2019
London 1486 the war of the roses has ended but a plot by bitter York loyalists threatens the hard-wrought peace. Fencing. Fighting. True Love. Strong Hate. Harsh Revenge. Lots of Bad people. Lots of Good people. Some Swell Escapes and Captures. Death, Lies, Truth, Miracles, and a Little Sex.

That isn't this book, that's The Princess Bride.

This book is all that but with engrossing detailed character stories of four and twenty noteworthy women whose stories while each remarkable and capable of sustaining their own tale are sewn together in the tapestry of how they stop England plunging back into war.

The catalyst that activates these women is a 'passing' Sidhe The Morrigan who enlists these women. A healer who wishes to heal and not be burned as a witch, a musician and her blind lover, a daughter of a brothel owner who chooses love, a nun returning to the world after 30 years and others as fascinating.

The detail in the novel highlights the attention the author has paid to this time which too often leaves out women overlooked despite their importance because as the Morrigan says in the book 'Women are invisible..' the best part is their roles and plays are here revealed in all their brilliance. The author also has provided an extra note on each chapter highlighting the key points and facts with which readers may be unfamiliar, a welcome addition.
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Rebecca Bowyer
5.0 out of 5 stars I adored this novel!
Reviewed in Australia on September 13, 2020
Verified Purchase
Blackbirds Sing is the story of the attempted assassination of King Henry VII of England. Set in 1486, it’s inspired by true events and imagines that the assassination plot is foiled by a network of ordinary woman doing extraordinary things, led by one slightly magical sidhe.

This book is for you if you love historical fiction from this period that’s conversational and really gets into the day-to-day details – and very well researched details they are, too!

I absolutely adored this novel. It’s technically a cycle of short stories, each one told from the point of view of a different woman. The narrative is moved along by handing the storytelling from one woman to the next, sort of like a baton race, piecing together the puzzle bit by bit. Once you’ve left a character’s point of view, you never get to go back again. You do, however, see previous ‘main’ characters pop up again from others’ points of view.

This, in itself, is really quite fascinating. Sometimes a woman won’t reveal something about herself to the reader because it’s just so ingrained in her life that it doesn’t occur to her to mention it. To an observer, however, that trait might be the absolute most important thing about the person.
Each story is a fabulous snippet of the hidden lives of ordinary women in these times. A nun, a lady in waiting, a prostitute, a tavern wench, a street musician, a bee keeper and more. I loved the stories of their lives every bit as much as I enjoyed the central narrative.

Aiki Flinthart is that author where, once you’ve read one of her books, you’ll want to go and read them all. Her writing is very readable but divinely descriptive:

“Far in the distance, huddled up against the Thames, London’s misery of buildings squatted beneath a miasma of smoke and hid behind the old Roman wall.”

Or this one:

“Dusty gold beams of light played through the leaves and blackbirds warbled and sand in the undergrowth. Sounded like dozens of them, all callin’and singin’ like their little hearts would break with the joy of livin’.”

I loved the diversity and small jabs at the attitude to women in the fifteenth century. Of course, disabled and abused women have existed throughout history. They don’t usually make it into the history books. This is where historical fiction can try to fill in the gaps. I loved this particular retort to a man who described a group of women as ‘a handful’:

“That’s because you’re a man and you think in terms of controlling women. They’re not horses or dogs. They want only respect and to be heard.”

Thanks to writers like Aiki Flinthart, these silent women of history can finally be heard.
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MR P BUCZKO
4.0 out of 5 stars Novel
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 20, 2020
Verified Purchase
One story, twenty four tellers. A brave effort to present a tale in a different way. Some of the characters were more interesting than others. The 'baddie' was terrible (in an Ivan sort of way) almost Dick Dastardly, you wanted to boo every time he appeared in the story. England under the newish rule of Henry Tudor and how events could have gone badly wrong if certain elements had their way. Well researched.
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B. Marshall
5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging, immersive, clever, brave and with a lot of heart
Reviewed in Australia on February 6, 2020
Verified Purchase
I was impressed quickly and often with this - recommended.

I was hooked by the other reviews, and wanted to see if Flinthart could pull off the literary equivalent of a reverse quadruple somersault; a narrative with 24 main protagonists - with every chapter jumping track to a new character.

It shouldn't work. It should be disruptive to the main narrative, should stop the reader finding deeper empathy with the characters, and fail to develop any of them in any kind of arc. The narrative structure sounds, on the face of it, annoying and confusing.

And it's neither. It's wonderful, clever, charming and empathic. Flinthart pulls off the kind of immersion into a time and place that grows richer and clearer with each brief yet effective introduction to each character. The impressive research is backgrounded, and each character and their actions are fully embedded in the realities of the time, with full sensorial references - you can feel, smell, touch and taste the world you're visiting. Not only that, you'll get to know characters from the Queen down to the lowest of the low - the entire strata of a society - and how they all fit together. Altogether, it's an amazing authorial feat that Flinthart makes look easy, and which is also so readable.

I congratulate Ms Flinthart on her reverse quadruple somersault.
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Barnesm
5.0 out of 5 stars Gramercy - 24 intriguing women in a deftly crafted plot to save 15 century England
Reviewed in Australia on December 15, 2019
Verified Purchase
London 1486 the war of the roses has ended but a plot by bitter York loyalists threatens the hard-wrought peace. Fencing. Fighting. True Love. Strong Hate. Harsh Revenge. Lots of Bad people. Lots of Good people. Some Swell Escapes and Captures. Death, Lies, Truth, Miracles, and a Little Sex.

That isn't this book, that's The Princess Bride.

This book is all that but with engrossing detailed character stories of four and twenty noteworthy women whose stories while each remarkable and capable of sustaining their own tale are sewn together in the tapestry of how they stop England plunging back into war.

The catalyst that activates these women is a 'passing' Sidhe The Morrigan who enlists these women. A healer who wishes to heal and not be burned as a witch, a musician and her blind lover, a daughter of a brothel owner who chooses love, a nun returning to the world after 30 years and others as fascinating.

The detail in the novel highlights the attention the author has paid to this time which too often leaves out women overlooked despite their importance because as the Morrigan says in the book 'Women are invisible..' the best part is their roles and plays are here revealed in all their brilliance. The author also has provided an extra note on each chapter highlighting the key points and facts with which readers may be unfamiliar, a welcome addition.
Report
Rachel Le Rossignol
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, clever and absorbing.
Reviewed in Australia on July 12, 2020
Verified Purchase
There is a plot against the king which may destroy the hard won peace at the end of the War of the Roses. But the simple actions of a group of seemingly unconnected women, told in a collection of separate vignettes, may change the course of history. And the Sidhe (fairies) may have a role to play in the outcome.
A clever, dazzling adventure through historical London, with a touch of magic and a wealth of accurate historical detail. A wonderful read.
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