Vision in the Forest

Marc Sonnery

Description

"Lettonia" northern Europe, middle ages. During a chance encounter peasant Marc falls madly in love with Princess Anna as her procession passes near his village. Following his exalted heart he cannot prevent himself from travelling to her castle. Surely he has no chance? Yet once there he asks for work in her orchard and, amused by this intriguing little man, she grants that wish. Little does he know that in the quest for his impossible dream he would face treachery, war, romance, and every emotion known to man.

Informations

• Publié par: Albarraque Publishing
• Date de parution: 31 juillet 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780957397859
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

I have finished reading ‘A Vision in the Forest’ and I feel like a better person for doing so! I really, really enjoyed the writing style and the entire story was simply enchanting! A wonderful short read to brighten anyone’s week.
—ANGELA CLARK
The story made for a good, quick read, perfect for someone busy or on the go. The subject was a nice twist on the traditional romance novel. It made for an entertaining story, which was light-hearted, yet still had poignant moments throughout.
The description of Princess Anna – the grace and elegance of her description (e.g. swan-like neck, dazzling jewellery) helped provide greater character insight into the reasons for which Marc fell in love with her, and created an ephemeral air about her, thus elevating her status within the novel. Her majestic descriptions justified the importance of her role within the plot, whilst also giving her a richness of character that female protagonists often lack.
Character descriptions were effective and created strong impressions of each individual.
The book was fluid, and the pace of the story lingered enough to create strong characters, but was fast enough to make the reader want to soldier on.
The use of an epilogue to cement the happiness of the main characters was very poignant and touching, and gave the reader full satisfaction, having made the journey through the plot.
—SOPHIE CELINE MAETER
Part of [it] was based on medieval romance, and your story has the important hallmarks, including a lot about “identity”, uncovering identity, birth and transformation, an important epiphany in the middle of the book. BRAVO for your gift of writing, and it is a true gift.
—PATRICIA HALLIDAY

A
Vision
In The
Forest

A Vision in the Forest © 2015 Marc Sonnery
Published by Albarraque Publishing An Imprint of Eau Rouge Publishing First published 2015 www.eaurougepublishing.com
ISBN: 978-0-9573978-4-2
The moral rights of the author have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the email address below.
All enquiries to [e-mail]
Cover: Anna Orehova as Princess Anna, mage created by Herve Coillaudin, Bureautique 71
Conversion to eBook by wordzworth.com
Written in honor of muse, Lady Anna Orehova, an extraordinary person in the purest sense of the word, who has affected my life like no one else in a profoundly positive manner. Words cannot express the extent of my gratefulness.
It is upon her advice and encouragement that I began writing fiction and here you have my first endeavour.
Of course you’ll never guess dear reader upon whom I based Princess Anna’s persona!
CONTENTS About the Story Introduction to A Vision In The Forest Marc Sonnery Biography Acknowledgements One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Epilogue Why the Name Albarraque Publishing?
Acknowledgements
I am deeply grateful to Nitty Nichols for her ongoing and most generous support as well as a brilliant idea, to Steve Reinert, a very fine Professor of Literature at Rutgers who took the time to give me top drawer advice, to Angelique Kent who copy edited the text in a most positive and professional manner, to Ann H. who provided me with the perfect sanctuary to write it and to all those who encouraged me during the process and gave me feedback thereafter, as well as all those who contributed in one way or another to the birth of the story. I also hope those friends such as my favorite school teacher Yves W., Johan H. and Ingvar L. whom I featured in cameo appearances like how they are portrayed!
On the publishing side my thanks to those in the UK at Eau Rouge Publishing go to the enthusiastic Doug Blair –though he prefers Rugby to medieval romances, nobody is perfect-, to Simon Saunders for his very fine initial page layout work including the hand painted letters by Claire Yeoman, on the French side to Yves Navasse and the team at Bureautique 71 in Macon, including Herve Coillaudin, a true Photoshop wizard.
Last but not least my family for putting me through this marvelous international kaleidoscope of life. Without that youth and learning five languages in five countries, learning to adapt anywhere so quickly I would almost certainly not have added three more countries (so far) and one more language (that will be enough!) beyond what they allowed me to experience. All of that clearly fuelled my imagination and enabled my fiction.
Marc Sonnery Biography
This is the first work of fiction by Swedish born Frenchman Marc Sonnery.
Born in 1964,he grew up in eight different countries, speaks six languages and has garnered an excellent reputation worldwide as an Italian classic car historian, journalist and author of deeply researched acclaimed books on the subject. Before that he also raced cars semi- professionally. His vivid, contagiously enthusiastic writing style combined with his international background and rich life experiences have fed a runaway imagination with a life of its own which yearned to write about more than the fruits of his main passion for Italian classic cars. He was destined for fiction and after considering it for years it is an encounter with the one who would become his muse which triggered the process that led to “A Vision in the Forest”.

Marc Sonnery by the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden May 2014.
Introduction to A Vision In The Forest
Marc had felt the itch for fiction since the mid 1990’s but had been too busy and did not presume an ability for it, he needed a prod, a little push. The trigger was his watershed 2010 encounter with one who would become a very special friend, the genuinely exceptional Latvian Anna Orehova, a great lady, stunning occasional model but, far more importantly to her, a truly brilliant banking career professional who empowered the start of the fiction facet of his work. She had an enormous impact on him, in fact her advice to “Not just write about cars” is what gave him the decisive “Ooomph” to dive into this first novel, which he chose to make a tribute to Anna since he likes her just a little bit.
She thus became his platonic muse in the purest most genuine sense, a source of bubbling inspiration, boundless energy, indomitable enthusiasm.
Astonishingly she is also the muse of another talented albeit completely different writer. So impressed was Marc with her, at a time when he felt embarrassed to be overweight, that he chose to portray her as a Princess and he as a peasant in a romantic medieval context. He lost 15 kilos via her motivation, lots of exercise and a new diet while writing it but that is only the visible part of the iceberg of change she unleashed in him. After “A Vision in the Forest” among several future novels planned, one, set in modern day, will feature her.
About the Story
It is a lively tale full of surprises one of which may temporarily confuse the reader, and which also honors hope and those who strive for their goals with all their heart.
I call the Kingdom it takes place in Lettonia since a mythical land befits a mythical tale but it is of course set in what later became Latvia, albeit with a fictional capital called Gustavia and its Royal castle named Orehova. As you may know in some languages like French, Latvia is “Lettonie”. Rubiera is of course a fictive nation. The rest should be historically correct in terms of plausibility. This work stands on its own feet and is not related to any kind of genre, there are indeed a few cameos by friends but rest assured there are no dragons or witches!
Marc Sonnery Burgundy January 16, 2015.

One
iddle ages, Kingdom of Lettonia, northern Europe.
Deep in the mist covered forest peasant Marc worked his plot of vegetables on his knees in the rags he had for clothes, his callused hands full of dirt betraying three decades of hard farming.
As he paused for a moment he noticed that the castle in the far distance on the mountain peak beyond the alpine pass was just visible on the elevated horizon, something that had not happened in months and only occurred once or twice a year. Like each time since he was a boy the beautiful white castle and its gleaming towers made him dream of the Princess it enshrined.
By decision of the king peasants like him were not allowed to see her with their vulgar eyes, only the court and the people of the capital Gustavia had that right. So on the rare occasions that she traveled with her great entourage they were firmly told to look at the ground but no one knew why, no one had ever seen her and the reason was a complete mystery. No one except one old woman in the village long considered insane. But when Marc one day questioned her, insisted for hours and gave her some potatoes to make her talk she finally said with her one tooth smile “Aaah because if you ever see her lad you will lose thy mind ha-ha-ha!” and with that she hobbled away to feed her goats.
That was not a helpful answer at all and Marc was so curious that he finally resolved to hide the next time her carriage came through the village. He did not care what the punishment was he just had to see for himself and so he did on the next day before church knowing that her procession would probably pass. He climbed a tree and waited hidden by the branches….for hours the cold made him shiver, his hands turning blue and his throat sore but he was determined to see the Princess for himself.
Finally after eons of time he saw a procession coming down the mountain at a gallop, a long one, perhaps a military detachment, th