VBT and Review: Wolf Wood by Mike Dixon

France Book Tours presents...

Wolf Wood

Part One:  The Gathering Storm

by Mike Dixon

SYNOPSIS:

(Some violence, family and political intrigue, quite a lot of romance, some sex but never explicit.)

In 1436 a dispute arose between the people of Sherborne and their abbot over the ownership of a baptismal font.  Before it was settled, the abbey was burnt down and a bishop murdered.  Some saw the hand of evil at work and blamed a newcomer to the town, accusing her of being a witch.  Others saw her as a saint.  Wolf Wood is set in the turbulent years of the late middle ages.  The old feudal aristocracy is losing control, a new middle class is flexing its muscles, the authority of the church is being questioned, law and order have broken down and England is facing defeat in France.  Wolf Wood is a work of fiction based on actual events.

Release date: June 14, 2013

Self published

Part One, IBSN 978-0-9875989-0-5  

Part Two, IBSN 978-0-9875989-1-2

PURCHASING INFORMATION

On the author's website: http://mikejkdixon.com

Amazon pages:

Part One URL: http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Wood-Part-One-ebook/dp/B00DF556C4/ref=sr_sp-atf_image_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1373069551&sr=1-1&keywords=mike+dixon+wolf+wood

Part Two URL: http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Wood-Part-Two-ebook/dp/B00DF5HEX8/ref=sr_sp-atf_image_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1373069605&sr=1-2&keywords=mike+dixon+wolf+wood

Author's bio:

I was born in Sherborne (Dorset) and attended school there and (as an exchange student) in the Medoc region of France.  I studied physics at Oxford and received a PhD degree in astrophysics from the University of Cambridge.  Following teaching and research appointments in South Africa, Scotland and Australia, I joined the Australian Government Service and worked, for a while, as a ministerial assistant.  I entered the tourist industry through public relations and scuba diving and established one of Australia's first backpacker resorts.  I have a keen interest in medieval history and I am a frequent visitor to Britain and France.

As a boy, growing up in Sherborne, I heard about the famous fire of Sherborne Abbey and was told that a priest shot a flaming arrow into the tower and set the building on fire.  The marks of the fire are visible today, over five hundred years later.  And there is a lot more to tell us what happened.

There was an inquiry into the dispute that led to the fire and the surviving documents tell of a bitter feud between the abbot and the townspeople.  It's highly dramatic stuff and it inspired me to write my Wolf Wood novels.

My books are fiction.  Some of the characters are based on real people; others are entirely imaginary.  I have done my best to be faithful to the main course of historical events and fill in the gaps with the sort of things that could have happened to my characters.

My thoughts:

I truly enjoyed reading Wolf Wood purely for the love of reading itself.  I know, a strange statement from an avid reader and a devoted historical fiction fan, but honestly, as an Historian, I often loose myself in the details, which I love, but it was wonderful to read historical fiction for the sake of reading an engaging, interesting story alone.  I am grateful for the reminder!

When I began Wolf Wood I selected it from my pile without any real where my read would take me.  I honestly believed that I needed to read the novel for an imminent review deadline and not for pure pleasure.  However this, like much of life of late, was completely backwards and it was the not the novel with the looming deadline.  I didn’t realize and honestly didn’t care; Wolf Wood was a pleasure, cover to cover!

While I will admit that this novel didn’t stop my world from spinning and make me question my knowledge of history nor did it prod me into further research.  Quite simply Wolf Wood gave me something that I had not realized I was missing in historical fiction which was it was simply a good read – an interesting story with rich characters that were interesting in their own right and not because they actually existed within the historical context into which they are placed.  Wolf Wood is an entertaining, engaging read and I would say a wonderful way to introduce historical fiction to new readers and I eagerly await Part Two...

Join Wolf Wood on tour...

Monday, Aug 26

Review at The Most Happy Reader

Tuesday, Aug 27

Review + interview at

at Musings of a Writer And Unabashed Francophile

Wednesday, Aug 28

Review at I Am, Indeed

Thursday, Aug 29

Review by author Paulita Kincer

at An Accidental Blog

Friday, Aug 30

Review at Valli’s Book Den

In full compliance with FTC Guidelines, I received a free ebook edition of this book from the author and France Book Tours in exchange for a fair and honest review.  I was in no way compensated for this post, and the thoughts are my own.

This review qualifies for the following challenges:

Historical Fiction Book Review #30

Tudor Book Blog Reading Challenge #25