The Whispering Bookworm

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

On Tour With Yarde Book Promotions: The Relic Keeper by Heidi Eljarbo

The Relic Keeper
By Heidi Eljarbo

Italy, 1620.

Angelo is an orphan, lonely and forgotten. Having been passed on from one family to the next, he ends up as a common thief, subject to and under the thumb of a ruthless robber called Tozzo.

Angelo knows no other life and has lost hope that any chance of providence will ever replace his lonely, misfortunate existence. When he loses his master, his livelihood is shaken. Tozzo’s plunder is hidden in a safe place, but what will happen if someone comes after Angelo to get their hands on the stolen relics? More than that, he feels threatened by words he’s heard too many times; that he’ll always remain unforgiven and doomed.

One day, a priest invites Angelo to help with chores around the church and rectory and, in exchange, offers him room and board. Padre Benedetto’s kindness and respect are unfamiliar and confusing, but Angelo’s safety is still a grave concern. Two older robbers have heard rumors about the hidden treasures and will stop at nothing to attain them.

With literary depictions and imagery, Angelo’s story is a gripping and emotional journey of faint hope and truth in seventeenth-century Italy—an artistic and audacious tale that crosses paths with art collector Vincenzo Giustiniani and the powerful Medici family.

Publication Date: 18th November 2025

Publisher: Independently Published

Page Length: 162

Genre: Historical Fiction

An interview with Heidi Eljarbo

What inspired you to start writing?

I was a bookish child. My parents had a bookshelf that covered a whole wall in our living room, and I also went to the library to borrow more. Being a person who sees feelings in pictures and who has countless stories pop up in my head, I desired to write these down. I liked the challenge of being able to write something others could read and enjoy. But it took me a long time. I talked myself down, and it wasn’t until later in life that I (encouraged by my husband) started writing professionally. First as a journalist for magazines and newspapers, and then as an author of a full-length novel. I am so happy when I’m writing, and I enjoy the hours of research, plotting a story, and developing the characters.

What was the hardest part about writing this book?

Sometimes, I let the characters run freely—I let them make decisions, talk, and do things on their own, and I feel as if I’m tagging along trying to get to know them. The main characters in The Relic Keeper are so strong that I hoped to describe them in a way that the reader could share the heartwarming feeling I had when writing about them.

Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?

Angelo is the kind of boy you want to take into your home and adopt. He is far better than he understands, and he makes good choices to change his ways. But I really enjoyed Padre Benedetto’s personality. The more I wrote, the more his influence and wisdom dominated the pages. As a writer, it was an interesting journey to get to know him.

What do you hope your readers take away from this book?

The story about Angelo and Padre Benedetto was a joy to write. I cried during the last read-through before sending the manuscript off because the story deeply touched my heart. I hope my readers will feel the tender message of hope, forgiveness, and love.

Praise

“The Relic Keeper” ultimately stands as a radiant celebration of hope, kindness, and the beauty that emerges when wounded souls dare to reach towards the light. It is a story to savour, reflect upon, and carry with you — an unforgettable addition to Eljarbo’s heartfelt repertoire of novels that bring history to life.

Yarde Book Promotion

Buy the Book
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Read with #KindleUnlimited

Heidi Eljarbo

HEIDI ELJARBO grew up in a home full of books, artwork, and happy creativity. She is the author of historical novels filled with courage, hope, mystery, adventure, and sweet romance during challenging times. She’s been named a master of dual timelines and often writes about strong-willed women of past centuries.

After living in Canada, six US states, Japan, Switzerland, and Austria, Heidi now calls Norway home. She lives with her husband on a charming island and enjoys walking in any kind of weather, hugging her grandchildren, and has a passion for art and history. Her family’s chosen retreat is a mountain cabin, where they hike in the summer and ski the vast white terrain during winter.

Heidi’s favorites are her family, God's beautiful nature, and the word whimsical.

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Tuesday, February 3, 2026

On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club: Dance of the Earth by Anna M. Holmes

Dance of the Earth
By Anna M. Holmes

From world stages to theatres of war, Dance of the Earth is a sweeping family saga.

Set against the backdrops of London’s gilded Alhambra music hall, Diaghilev’s dazzling Ballets Russes, and the upheavals of the First World War, Rose and her children, Nina and Walter, pursue their ambitions, loves, and dreams. Dance and music shape their identities, helping each to find their place in the world.

Spanning the years 1875 to 1921—an era of profound artistic and social change—fact and fiction interweave in this tapestry of birth, sacrifice, and renewal. Art—both serious and comic—is at the story’s beating heart.

Publication Date: October 28th, 2025

Publisher: The Book Guild

Pages: 456

Genre: Historical Fiction / Ballet History

Praise for Dance of the Earth

"Draws on her knowledge of British dance history to capture the changes from late 19th century to early 20th century."

Jane Pritchard, M.B.E, Curator of Dance, V&A

"A wonderful blend of fun and grit. I love the delivery and descriptions and I will be looking for more of Anna M Holmes's work."

Abbe, 5* Amazon Review

Buy this Book

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This title is available to order at all good bookshops, and in online bookstores in ebook and paperback formats.

Anna Holmes

Stories with big themes written as page-turners are Anna M Holmes’s speciality.

With an extensive background in dance and theatre, Dance of the Earth is a story she has longed to write.

Her novels—The Find, Wayward Voyage, and Blind Eye—are all typified by deep research.

Anna worked as a radio journalist before embarking on a career in arts management. Originally from New Zealand, she now lives in South-West London.

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Friday, January 30, 2026

On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club: Showboat Soubrette by Brodie Curtis

Showboat Soubrette

By Brodie Curtis

FROM STAR SHOWBOAT SINGER

TO PIRATE PREY ON THE WICKED RIVER!

Showboat singer Stella Parrot’s star rises in the Antebellum South with every sold-out performance along the lower Mississippi River. When a river pirate viciously assaults her, new friends Toby Freeman and John Dee Franklin foil the attack. However, the pirate’s family is bent on revenge.

Stella, Toby, and John Dee escape their riverboat with able assistance from young cub pilot Sam Clemens, only to be pursued by the notorious Burton Gang. As the trio runs for their lives, mortal perils await at every turn: a fierce storm, high-stakes gambling confrontations, deadly combat, and a cotton boat up in flames. Stella, a Cherokee Indian, and Toby, a free Black man, and their friend White man John Dee endure relentless racial prejudices and injustices in the gritty underbelly of the Wicked River while fleeing to New Orleans—where the Burtons will be waiting!

SHOWBOAT SOUBRETTE’s fast-paced lower river adventure chase features romantic showboat scenes and is unsparing in its exploration of the bigoted and sometimes lawless riverboat era.

Publication Date: December 10th, 2025

Publisher: Westy Vistas Books

Pages: 367

Genre: Historical Fiction

Praise

'Curtis is also a master of description and atmosphere. The novel is vivid with detail from the dining room and theatre of the showboat to the whorehouses of New Orleans. Life on the Mississippi is in full view here, from river pirates to dock workers. Sailors, gamblers, and society ladies all get their fair share of attention, and despite the class differences, more social fluidity occurs than we might expect.'

Tyler, Goodreads 5* Review

An interview with author, Brodie Curtis.

What inspired you to start writing?

For me, it all starts with reading, and I suppose that is always the case with a writer. I read voraciously as a young boy, but lost momentum with it during my teenage and college years (meeting a few distractions during that period). As I settled into my career, I got back to reading, accumulating stacks of novels and non-fiction titles and made myself good and near-sighted by reading in the evenings, on planes, whenever.

History was always my go-to. That started for me early in high-school, when I was assigned Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage. A story set during the American Civil War, Crane’s rendering of a common soldier’s ambitions, fears, insecurities, survivalist instincts and, of course, courage in the face of mortal conflict, has never lost its influence on me. Maybe capturing Crane’s writing magic has always been my quixotic dream. Crane was the first, but I have gone on to read countless novels set around military action, as well as dozens and dozens of war-time non-fiction works and biographies.

My debut novel, THE FOUR BELLS, was set in motion years ago, in a homey lounge, when I heard a gorgeously mournful acoustic version of John McCutcheon’s song about the transcendent Christmas truce of 1914. It inspired me to research reports on the truce in contemporaneous writings and non-fiction, and to walk the fields of Flanders.

I decided to write about the truce. Once my pen hit paper, my characters took me down their own road, and the truce became just one scene in the story. Where protagonists Maddy and Al left off at the end of THE FOUR BELLS set the stage for my second novel, ANGELS and BANDITS. My third and current novel, SHOWBOAT SOUBRETTE, turns to America’s 19th century Western Frontier, the Lower Mississippi River, and the romantic but under-fictionalized time of paddle-wheeler showboats.

What was the hardest part about writing this book?

SHOWBOAT SOUBRETTE’s essential conflict deals with the stark social divisions during the Antebellum Period on the Lower Mississippi River. My characters must deal with and overcome inequities that are almost beyond belief today. Perhaps my most instructive research sources were eye witness accounts of events that took place during the institution of slavery. Reading passages from these sources gave me emotions ranging from profound sadness to fury.

Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?

My Grandmother, and then my Mother, displayed a charcoal portrait of a beautiful young woman in an ornate wooden frame. The young woman is dark complected with high cheekbones, straight-backed and stares confidently ahead. She wears long, dangling earrings and an elegant dress with a laced collar and a satin Esque bow with a stone on it. A choker band is around her neck and long curls are arranged high on her head. My Grandmother told me she was Cherokee and walked the Trail of Tears, and that account is confirmed in a family letter from early in the 20th century. But Grandma didn’t know anything else about this ancestor’s life. Undoubtedly this young beauty had a story; her look is a far cry from a farmer’s wife. The portrait hangs in my office now and inspired Stella—my female protagonist who is the SHOWBOAT SOUBRETTE.

If your book was to be made into a movie, who are the celebrities that would star in it?

Kind of a hard one! For Stella Parrot, the SHOWBOAT SOUBRETTE, I’d cast Kelsey Asbille, a young heroine in Taylor Sheridan’s YELLOWSTONE series. Her beauty and soft-spoken strength would shine through. I’d be looking for a young James Garner in casting John Dee Franklin, a gambling, charismatic but wise-cracking friend of Stella’s. For the other male protagonist, I’d go with Keith Powers from STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON for his physical stature and ability to project confidence and a strong will.

What do you hope your readers take away from this book?

During the Antebellum Period, the Lower Mississippi River was a place of incredible contrasts. A lazy flowing grand river navigated by graceful paddle-wheelers transporting elegantly-clad passengers. Many boats transported cotton and other agricultural commodities that required oppressed laborers to fill their holds. Social stratification was extreme and people of color were subject to deprivations that makes one sad and furious. A sense of lawlessness permeated the region. Three young people, two of them of color, would need special qualities to survive. I envision an optimistic world where young people can dig deep within themselves, bond, and work together to overcome grievous obstacles.

I hope readers feel this praise from HISTORICAL FICTION COMPANY’s review is warranted: "Showboat Soubrette is a novel that transcends a simple river chase, unfolding instead as a richly textured portrait of a time and place where beauty and brutality are forced to coexist. Brodie Curtis has crafted a story that entertains without simplifying, thrills without trivializing, and ultimately delivers a powerful testament to courage and solidarity on the margins of history, a balance he achieves through a masterful control of narrative flow, where quiet moments of character revelation flow seamlessly into heart-pounding action, and through a prose that is both evocative and precise, giving voice to a trio of characters whose depth and resilience transform them from "archetypes" companions to indelible individuals. For readers who crave historical fiction with pace and teeth, this novel will be a compelling and unforgettable ride.”

Buy this Book

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This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited

Brodie Curtis

Raised in the Midwest, Brodie Curtis was educated as a lawyer and left the corporate world to embrace life in Colorado with his wife and two sons.

Curtis is the author of THE FOUR BELLS, a novel of The Great War, which is the product of extensive historical research, including long walks through the fields of Flanders, where much of the book's action is set. His second novel, ANGELS AND BANDITS, takes his protagonists into The Battle of Britain. Curtis’ third novel is set on a Mississippi Riverboat prior to the Civil War.

A lover of history, particularly American history and the World Wars, Curtis reviews historical fiction for the Historical Novels Review and more than 100 of his published reviews and short takes on historical novels can be found on his website: brodiecurtis.com.

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