How You Too Can Become an Aristocrat!

I have recently had the distinct pleasure of becoming a Scottish Aristocrat. I am now Lady of Dunans as I have come to own a square foot of land at Dunans Castle in Argyll Scotland and I have the paperwork to prove it!

Actually, the idea came from a clothing catalog called Soft Surroundings. http://www.softsurroundings.com/  I noticed they had this offer for $25.00 to purchase a small plot of land on the grounds of Dunans Castle, the proceeds going to help with the restoration. 

I promptly ripped out the page and handed it to my daughter and suggested it as a Christmas present.  Well, the paper work came and the offer is legitimate. It will be framed and hung in a prominent spot in my home, er castle.

Now my greatest problem is, how should friends and family address me? Lady Dunans? Therese, Lady of Dunans? Lady Mother? Lady Therese of Dunans?

I can even go and visit my plot of land on the castle grounds. I can have a free tour of the castle and I can even fish in the Alt a Chaol Ghleann river with the proprietors.

Now I just need to convince my braw husband he looks good in a kilt and work on my wee Scottish accent!

Sincerely,

Therese Stenzel, Lady of Dunans, of Scotland and Tulsa

FAVORITE CLASSIC BOOK LIST

Here is a collection of the most beloved classic novels as reccomended by His Writers, a group of historical writers who are also avid classic book readers. I combined their reccomendations with Amazon's rankings and this is the list I got.

Happy Reading!

FAVORITE CLASSIC BOOKS compiled by Therese Stenzel

Top Ten in order of recommendation

1.   Jane Eyre

2.   Gone With The Wind

3.    Pride & Prejudice

4.   To Kill a Mocking Bird

5.   Wuthering Heights

6.   Black Beauty

7.   The Count of Monte Cristo

8.    The Secret Garden

9.   Sense and Sensibility

10.                1984

 

Other Top Favorites-Amazon  4 ½ stars and up

Rebecca

Little Women

Crime and Punishment

Anna Karenina

The Phantom of the Opera

Anya Seton

Katherine

Anne of Green Gables

Les Miserables

The Great Gatsby

The Blue Castles

The Scarlet Pimpernel

The Woman In White

The Brothers Karamazov

The Three Musketeers

War and Peace

Don Quixote

The Importance of Being Ernest

Wives and Daughters

Emma 

FAVORITE CHRISTMAS FICTION

FAVORITE CHRISTMAS FICTION

Compiled by Therese Stenzel

www.theresestenzel.com 

Top Book Recommendations

The Christkindls Gift by Kathleen Morgan

Forever Christmas by Chris Lynxwiler

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens  

Authors Most Mentioned

Angels Everywhere by Debbie Macomber

The Trouble With Angels by Debbie Macomber

Those Christmas Angels by Debbie Macomber

Where Angels Go by Debbie Macomber

Gideon's Gift by Karen Kingsbury

Maggie's Miracle by Karen Kingsbury

Sarah's Song by Karen Kingsbury

Hannah’s Hope by Karen Kingsbury

The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado

The Christmas Child by Max Lucado 

Christmas Novellas 4 1/2 stars and up

A Bride by Christmas

Montana Mistletoe

Prairie Christmas

Victorian Christmas Quilt  

General Fiction 4 1/2 stars and up

A Carol for Christmas by Robin Lee Hatcher

A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote

A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd

A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg

A Texas Christmas Legacy by DiAnn Mills

A Wish For Wings That Work by Berkeley Breathed

Boo Humbug by Rene Gutteridge

Home Another Way by Christa Parrish

Miracle On 34th Street by Valentine Davies

Old Christmas by Washington Irving

One Perfect Gift by Kathleen Morgan

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

The Angel Doll by Jerry Bledsoe

The Christmas Shoes by Donna VanLiere

The Shepherd, The Angel, and Walter The Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry

Two from Galilee by Marjorie Holmes

ANGLOPHILE MUSINGS

BRITISH POEM

When I come home

Dear folk o’ mine

We’ll drink a cup

Of olden wine;

And yet however

Rich it be

No wine will taste so go to me

As English air

-Leslie Coulson

 

BRITISH BOOK-Fiction

HEARTS IN THE HIGHLANDS by Ruth Axtell Morren is a delightful read. Set in England and Scotland, the story weaves in an interesting backdrop of archeology and society in the late Victorian era. The romance is refreshingly written in a slow tantalizing manner that will keep you avidly reading to the very end. Warning—don’t start this book late at night, otherwise you might never sleep!

BRITISH BOOK-Non-Fiction

MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH ENGLAND by Susan Allen Toth is a must read for any self-respecting Anglophile. This true story chronicles a woman’s passion for all things English. Not just another travel memoir, Ms. Toth brings England vividly to life in description and settings but also in that singular passion that all British lovers understand. Come stand in the rain soaked streets of London, walk the paths of the Lake District, and take a trip to the seaside village of Exmoor and fall in love all over again.

BRITISH MOVIE

Elizabeth Gaskell’s WIVES AND DAUGHTERS is a deliciously engaging costume drama in the tradition of Jane Austen. Set in a richly portrayed society, well stocked with eccentric nobles and marriage minded mothers, the story centers around 17 year sold Molly Gibson, the only daughter of a respected country doctor. The well-ordered world of her childhood is complicated by her father’s decision to remarry. Molly’s faltering efforts to cope with an impossible stepmother, a charming stepsister, and a promising romance makes for an absorbing movie.

 

NEW SCOTTISH HISTORICAL

My new Scottish historical e-book, Bride of Thistleloch Castle is out on Amazon! 

Link: http://amzn.to/QOCwsK

 

A young English woman is thrust into the barbaric Highlands of Scotland—to a country that she has been taught to despise. But to stay alive, she must overcome prejudices that have festered for generations. She must accept that the God of heaven loves her. She must wed a Scottish savage.

 

English woman, Laren Stewart travels with her family to visit their relations in Scotland only to be forced into a terrifying situation. She finds herself bartered, wed, and widowed all within forty-eight hours. Now kidnapped by a rival clan, the barbaric MacLennens, and believed to be the wife of another laird, she is dragged further north to be held for ransom. Laren, a despised Outlander desperately clings to the hope that no one will discover her secret—that she was not wed to the clan chief. All she wants is to go home to civilized England and to save her sister from her same fate—but when the truth is revealed about who she is, all that will keep her alive is to agree to a handfasting to yet another Scottish savage.

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Therese Stenzel-British Historical author

Blue Africa

Forever and a Day

Bride of Thistleloch Castle-available on Amazon

Blog-British Missives at www.theresestenzel.com

 

 

CLASSIC BOOK CHALLENGE

I remember one summer ten years ago when my boys were little and life was all about sippy cups and diapers, challenging myself to read Jane Austen--I needed something to feed my brain and Dora the Explorer wasn't doing it.

 

I started with Pride and Prejudice and struggled to get through it, until I watched the movie, and then I could keep all the characters straight and loved the book. That summer I read three of Jane's books.

Lately, I've been missing that classic literature. I have piles of really good English historicals written by contemporary authors, but I miss the classics written by British writers whose mastery of the English language proved that they are indeed from the same island as Shakespeare.

I want to reread Elizabeth Bennett’s first refusal of Mr. Darcy, all the naval banter in a Horatio Hornblower book, follow the heart ache of Jane Eyre.

So here's my challenge--finish up the novel you're reading, then blow off the dust of a classic you've been meaning to get to, or have already read. Return to old England. Escape to a time when manners and exquisite speech meant everything.

I've just finished watching the BBC version of Emma--it absolutely transported me in time for several delightful hours.  Now I plan on settling down to read Emma again. With a cup of tea. And a biscuit. Or two.

With much felicity

Therese

FREE BRITISH HISTORICAL

 

 

 

FOREVER AND A DAY is an e-book that normally sells for $5.97 is a FREE download Oct 1-5. Here is the link,  http://amzn.com/B009467Z0O

 

FOREVER AND A DAY: In a world where position and rank are everything, can two souls stand firm in their desires and their faith?

In the courts of King Louis XVIth and Marie Antoinette, a storm is brewing that will overthrow a monarchy. Caught up in the maelstrom is a young girl, who becomes a pawn in a hopeless attempt to quell the peasant rebellion. But the cost to her is greater than she could ever imagine.

FOREVER AND A DAY is a tale of an impoverished girl who is forced to leave her family to live as a pretend princess in the French royal court to appease the growing unrest among the peasants. Unfortunately, pretending to be royal requires that she accept a betrothal to an English duke. Now living in the Queen’s House (Buckingham Palace) and awaiting her marriage, she clashes with the duke’s secretary, the man who could reveal her true identity. But when his life is at stake, can she learn to wait the Lord to give her the desires of her heart?

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