Publishers Weekly reviews Voices Whisper
I'm trilled to share Publishers Weekly recent review of Voices Whisper! Below is an excerpt, and you'll find the full review at Publishers Weekly.Graham continues the adventures of three British immigrants to late 18th-century America in this enjoyable follow-up to...
The Federal Procession of 1788
The Federal Procession of 1788 was a community parade. It was held on July 4th, 1788, in honor of the newly ratified US Constitution.
A Blue Ribbon Winner!
I am beyond thrilled to learn A Thimbleful of Honor earned a 1st Place Blue Ribbon in the 2020 CHATELAINE Book Awards for Romantic Fiction, a Division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards! Thank you, CIBA!
A Thimbleful of Honor is Now Available in Audio
I'm so pleased to share that A Thimbleful of Honor, narrated by the ever so talented Alex Wyndham, is NOW AVAILABLE in audiobook!Set in 1770 Scotland, A Thimbleful of Honor is a story of love, loss, and coming home. It is the first in a new series, and one that will...
News for A Thimbleful of Honor
A Thimbleful of Honor was awarded a B.R.A.G. Medallion! Thank you, IndieBrag!We are proud to announce that A THIMBLEFUL OF HONOR by Linda Lee Graham is a B.R.A.G.Medallion Honoree. This tells readers that this book is well worth their time and money! A Thimbleful of...
How to Outwit a Duppy using Jamaican Spirit Lore
The Jamaican Duppy African in origin, the word duppy has two meanings in Jamaican spirit lore. The first refers to a soul, which may manifest in either human form or animal form. The second meaning evolves from the first and references a supernatural race of...
Constitution Day – The Day A Miracle Occurred on Philadelphia’s Chestnut Street
Sunday, September 17, 2023, is Constitution Day. It marks the two hundred and thirty-fifth anniversary of the final day of the U.S. Constitutional Convention—the day a miracle occurred on Philadelphia’s Chestnut Street. On this day a gathering of men set aside their...
It’s the Journey, not the Destination
I have two special-place images I use when visualizing a serene and secure place. One is a flower-filled meadow bounded by a stone wall in ruins, the other is an eerily dim path through a magical old-growth forest. Both are in Scotland. So that's why, in the midst of...
Crafting a Winter Wonderland with Fairy Lights
In recent days we've created a Winter Wonderland with solar lights, iron baskets, and plenty of suggestions from family and family-to-be. We're still working out the bugs, but so far I'm thrilled with the results! If you're interested in trying it, some directions...
The Dreaded West Indies Posting
Soldier of the Black Watch c.1740, colorized {{PD-US}} When Malcolm McPherson joined the Black Watch in 1735, he and his fellow enlistees “thought themselves destined to serve exclusively . . . in the Highlands."1 They had no expectation they’d do duty in the...
Coffee for Two
Early coffeepots were designed to hold only a cup or two of coffee. It was only once coffee became less expensive and easy to obtain that the pots increased in size. The gem pictured (figuratively speaking—you can find one similar on eBay for under $10) is an example...
Pimento: A Spice for the Holidays
Pimento, a spice more widely known as “allspice,” is harvested from the berries of the Pimenta dioica, a W. Indian tree commonly found on Jamaica’s north coast. It's not the Spanish red pepper, though its name is derivative of the Spanish pepper (pimiento) and it’s...
The Race to White in the 18th-Century West Indies
A perspective on the disturbing pseudoscience behind the colonial obsession with cataloging complexions and “refining” racial mixes in 18th century West Indies.
As Rich as a Creole
In eighteenth-century Jamaica, a creole was a nonindigenous person born on the island, whether of European, African, or mixed descent. Those referenced in the expression “as rich as a creole,” however, were invariably of European descent. The phrase is a variant of...
Jamaica’s Tapestried Past
I did a double take when I saw this work hanging in a Montego Bay exhibit last year. Admittedly, my interest was more than casual. I was writing Voices Echo at the time and visiting Jamaica to flesh out my research. Many of the images in the collage echoed...
A Well-Travelled Cobblestone
The story of well-traveled cobblestones paving America's streets is a romantic one. But is it true? Did ballast rock from foreign ports pave America’s colonial seaport streets? Ballast Ballast is what's carried in a ship’s hull so the ship doesn’t topple. Because an...
“Where’s Your Haggis?”
If you spent any time abroad this summer—especially with children—you might appreciate Samuel Clemens' humorous disdain for the food he encountered while traveling in 1878: Foreigners cannot enjoy our food, I suppose, any more than we can enjoy theirs. It is not...
A Sticky Subtlety
Kara Walker’s “Subtlety” is Anything But Appearances notwithstanding, it's safe to say Kara Walker didn't intend to present a sugarcoated history when she created her cast of sticky subtleties in the defunct New York Domino Sugar refinery earlier this summer. Her...
Sugarcoating History
Sugarcoating the Unsavory Side of History Sugarcoat history? Of course we can, but should we? Not in my opinion. Still, it's a fine line to straddle when writing romantic historical fiction—particularly a story that takes place in brutal 18th-century Jamaica. I know...
18th-Century Style Shrub
18th-Century Style Shrub 4th July by Linda Lee Graham This 4th of July, party like a colonial. Drink shrub! Shrub? It's a blend of fruit, sugar, and vinegar, and it was a colonial favorite. It’s thought the word derives from the Arabic word meaning “drink.” Granted,...
Smithsonian Treasures
Did you know the Smithsonian is looking for Digital Volunteers? Anyone can help transcribe old and rare books and manuscripts right from home—a sentence at a time or a page at a time. I explored the site this afternoon and happened upon a treasure--an old Jamaica/Cuba...
Drilling Rock
“There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.” ~ Ernest Hemingway I’m in the final stages of “drilling rock” with Voices Echo! (Release date ~ May 2014) This image...
A Kiss Under the Mistletoe
Poor Bridget is outnumbered!
Popular Pastime of the Past – Ice Skating
Ice skating was a popular pastime for Philadelphians in the 18th century. The easily accessible Delaware River often froze, as did the Schuylkill. And even if the rivers didn't, the neighborhood ponds invariably iced over. Early accounts claim the Delaware River was...
What’s Lurking in Your Family Tree?
I love these lyrics from “I Think I Hear a Woodpecker Knocking at My Family Tree.” They serve as a reminder that it’s best to have a sense of humor and an open mind when delving into genealogy. My family tree is an awful sight to see For the bark is all worn bare;...
Broadsides – Trash Tabloids of Days Past
Yesterday's Tabloids Simple and cheap, broadsides were a common means of communication for close to three hundred years, up through the early 1800s. They were first used to post notices of royal proclamations and later expanded into notices of events, advertisements,...
Wilson’s December 15th Introductory Law Lecture
James Wilson’s law lecture series was not the nation’s first law course. It was, however, the first significant law course to be established in America since the Constitution was ratified, and the series had the distinction of being held in the nation’s new, albeit...
Jamaica’s Hurricane of 1780
Was it a Category 3, 4, or 5? Jamaicans couldn't categorize the hurricane that slammed their island on October 3, 1780. Instead, they compared their losses to the losses they'd suffered in past 18th-century hurricanes. Had more or less people been swept away by the...
An Eighteenth-Century Luxury: Books
Just how expensive were books for the average Philadelphian in the 1780s? I've read they were a luxury, however learning an edition of The History of Ancient Greece, from the earliest time until the time it became a Roman province, by William Robertson, Esq. with a...
Masquerades a Public Nuisance?
Masked balls of the eighteenth century fostered all sorts of illicit amusements. The events, both commercial and private, were seen by some as an opportunity to freely engage in unseemly behavior while maintaining anonymity. They were enormously popular—in...
Lending Libraries
The demand for reading material kept pace with the growing rate of literacy in British North America, and by the last half of the eighteenth century Philadelphia boasted a small number of lending libraries to meet it. One of the public libraries was Thomas Bradford's...
Single Malt with Rules!
Harvesting Peat on Skye, Scotland
Is He “Clapt or Poxed”?
Interpreting an eighteenth century reference to the pox can be confusing. There are a number of infections referred to as poxes, and all result in pockmarks that scar the victim. However, if the context hints at some sort of “sinful” activity, it is probably safe to...
Seven Steps to Folding Your Own Condom
An Eighteenth-Century Armour Known as redingotes d’Anglaise (English raincoats) by the French, and baudruches (French letters), armour, sheaths, and machines by the English, condoms were a booming trade in eighteenth-century London. No matter the dire warnings from...
Crossing the Atlantic
I booked airline tickets to Glasgow recently, from the comfort of my office chair, with the convenience of my charge card. No sooner had I clicked the 'book it' button, did I begin to dread the thought of the inconvenient delays at the airport, the long security...
The Industry
The cast of characters in Voices Beckon crossed the Atlantic in the winter of 1783-4, on a ship named the Industry. The ship itself was real enough. She sailed out of Bristol, England on November 7, 1783, destined for Philadelphia. She was a brig: a two-masted,...
Man Full of Trouble Tavern
by Linda Lee Graham The Man Full of Trouble Tavern is the only pre-Revolutionary tavern surviving in Philadelphia today. The Neighborhood Built in 1759 on the banks of the swampy, mosquito-infested Dock Creek, the Man Full of Trouble was a humble establishment. It...
David Graham
Voices Beckon begins with David Graham sailing to America in the winter of 1783. While I do know he served a six year apprenticeship for the Philadelphia firm Hall & Sellers beginning in 1784, I don’t know if he was a current resident of America at the time, or if...
Voices in My Blood
Four enticingly thick, beautifully bound volumes grace my library shelves--each documenting a branch of my family tree, each painstakingly researched, compiled, and written by my mother, and each leaving me with the urge to follow the trail further, to forge the path...
Borrow from your library!
If your library uses Bibliotheca, Overdrive, or Hoopla, then borrow a library copy! If you can’t find A Thimbleful of Honor in their catalog, you may submit a request.
