Katherina: Deliverance by Margaret Skea

Val Penny ♦ January 22, 2021 ♦ Leave a comment

It is a privilege to be involved in the tour for Katharina: Deliverance (Book 1 Katharina series) by Margaret Skea @margaretskea1 run by @lovebooksgroup. You can read an extract below and can follow the tour.

The Blurb

At five Katharina is placed in a convent.
At twenty-three she escapes.
At twenty-five she marries the most controversial man in Europe.

This is her story – of courage, resilience in the face of adversity and a determination to choose her own life.

If you like your historical fiction to be absorbing, authentic, beautifully written and full of warmth and heart, this portrayal of Katharina von Bora, the escaped nun who married Martin Luther, is for you.

The Extract

Torgau: September, 1552

It seems that I am dry, underneath me something soft. I search for the word to describe it, dredging it from the recesses of my brain: sheepskin. I am lying on sheepskin. I want to stretch, but my right leg refuses to move, and when I try to move onto my side, there is a sharp pain in my hip, as if someone is trying to thrust a sharp poker through me. I raise my arm; it at least works, as do my fingers when I wiggle them. But even that effort seems too much, and I let my hand drop onto the coverlet, my eyelids flickering.

When I next wake, it is to the half light that creeps around the edge of ill-fitting shutters, augmented by a stump of candle flickering on the window ledge. Beside it, slumped in a roughly fashioned chair, a woman sleeps and momentarily I feel pity for her, for the sound of laboured breathing fills the room and I think she must be unwell.

She stirs, approaches my bed. ‘Frau Luther?’

The Author

Margaret Skea grew up in Ulster at the height of the ‘Troubles’, but now lives with her husband in the Scottish Borders.

You can find more details, including why chocolate is vital to her creative process, on her website http://www.margaretskea.com