Renee Duke grew up in Ontario/B.C., Canada and Berkshire, England. Due to a treacherous re-drawing of county lines while she was out of the country, her little English market town is now in Oxfordshire, but she’s still a Berkshire girl at heart.
After qualifying as an Early Childhood Educator, she went on to work with children of all ages in a number of capacities, including a stint in Belize, Central America with World Peace and Development. These days she still does occasional interactive history units with 6- to12-year-olds at an after-school care centre but is otherwise retired and able to concentrate on writing.
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Back in seventeenth century, a Grand Tour of Europe was a rite of passage for the offspring of the rich. By the 1960s and 70s, it was fast becoming one for those of lesser means too. Being of lesser means, the peasantry couldn’t tour it quite as grandly, but it was definitely the ‘in’ thing to do, and is still a popular way for young people to assert their independence and kickstart a lifelong love of travel.
Climates—both natural and political—have changed a lot since the author and her best friend made their trip, but copious notes were taken, and the resulting travel memoir reflects their impressions of that part of the world at the time they were roaming around it.
Both now freely admit they were a spoiled, naïve, pair, and ill-equipped to handle even the physical rigours of such a venture, let alone all the annoying travel disruptions, communication difficulties, unexpected expenses, and various other problems that arose.
Still, they managed. Albeit not always (make that, seldom) with forbearance and aplomb.
Aware that a hostile empire has designs on several of its members, the Sovereign Planet Alliance (SPA) is keen to add the newly discovered planet of Xinthuva to its ranks and gain access to top-notch Xinthuvan defence technology. Trouble is, the Xinthuvans are staunch royalists. So staunch, that membership negotiations cannot even begin until they’ve held a magnificent royal get-together for their royal head of state and the royal heads of state of each and every Alliance planet.
Unfortunately, a royal head of state is something most SPA worlds no longer have.
Even after they all manage to come up with suitably regal, albeit, in some cases, reluctant, representatives for this vital gathering, worrisome incidents on the specially commissioned starliner making its way to Xinthuva lead its captain to suspect that someone aboard his ship does not want this gathering to be a success.
But who among the royal envoys is targeting the others? And why, when bringing Xinthuva into the Alliance stands to benefit them all?
Shield of Beom, Side Trip Book 2
Returning to Cholar for an extended stay, the planet-hopping kids who helped put Supreme Ruler Taziol IV on the throne aren’t expecting to find themselves taking another perilous side trip. But that’s before intergalactic villains make off with the monarch’s two small children. The kidnappers want a royal ransom and aren’t picky about where it comes from. They’ll turn the tots over to whoever meets their demands, be it the distraught parents or some other interested party. Such as the vengeful, power-hungry, Drazok. And Taz’s intrepid young friends aren’t about to sit back and let that happen!
Earth-born adolescents, Meda and Kirsty, are eager to explore the Zaidus system. They just don’t want to explore it as members of an organized tour group. The chaperone’s a harridan, and most of the places they’re forced to visit are really boring. Striking out on their own holds far more appeal, and despite limited funds and unexpected mishaps, they manage quite well – at first. But thanks to a bratty little brother, a dimension-travelling alien girl, and a handsome alien prince, an independent tour of the Zaidus planets is not without its complications.
The Time Rose Saga. Five Historical Time Travel novels featuring Canadian young adventurers
Prequel - Generations Five
For centuries, the Time Rose medallion has taken the children of a history-loving family into the past to restore the life paths of children whose own histories have been altered. When all such paths have been set to rights, a final task awaits those destined to be the final seekers, aided by some who served the medallion in the four preceding generations. From Iron Age Britain to World War II Holland, these are their stories.
Time Rose Book 5
The medallion has found the one it seeks. In Italy to attend a family wedding, Paige, Dane, and Jack’s final time trip takes them to a waiting Varteni, who is living in Herculaneum in the path of an already rumbling Mt. Vesuvius. But getting Varteni and her two young charges to safety is the least of their worries. They’re not the only ones to have finally located her. Their nemesis, Khatcheres, has too, and is preparing to move against her and seize control of Time. To defeat him, the Line of the Restorer must unite and call upon every resource available.
Time Rose Book 4
On P
aige, Dane, and Jack’s fourth time trip, the medallion connects them with children living in Pre-WW II Germany. One, Hani, has Down Syndrome. Another, Nicko, is a gypsy. The Time Rose Travellers know the Nazi regime will soon begin persecuting such ‘undesirables’, but keeping Hani and Nicko from becoming victims isn’t going to be easy. Plagued by enemies from their own time, and not even sure who they’re supposed to be helping, they’re meeting with resistance from Nicko, and open hostility from Hani’s sister Marta, an ardent member of the Hitler Youth.
The discovery of an old book provides more information on the medallion, but Paige and Dane will soon be returning to Canada and know it will be several months before they can make another time trip with their cousin Jack. Then, amidst all the preparations for Grantie Etta’s one hundred and fifth birthday party, strange things start to happen.
As a result Jack, too, must go to Canada. Once there, it soon becomes apparent that the only way for the Time Rose Travellers to stop the increasingly distressing alterations to their modern-day lives is to venture far into the Okangan Valley’s past and locate the syilx girl who has the legendary Arcanus Piece.
Another journey into the past takes Paige, Dane, and Jack to Victorian London, where they meet two young mudlarks named Hetty and Pip. Even though life is very hard for them, Hetty is leery of seeking help from Dr. Barnardo or other social reformers who might separate her from her little brother.
The Time Rose travellers have an idea for getting around that problem, but they’re about to have another. Jack the Ripper’s grisly attacks on women in the East End have the whole city on edge, and the blood splattered man Hetty and Pip happen across late one night doesn’t want witnesses on the loose.
No one knows what happened to the little Princes of the Tower. That's what Dane, Paige, and Jack are told when they start working on a medieval documentary for Dane and Paige's filmmaker father. But then an ancient medallion transports them back to the fifteenth century and gives them a chance to discover the truth about the mysterious disappearance of young King Edward the Fifth and his brother Richard, Duke of York. But they'd better be careful. The princes are definitely in danger, and the person responsible for their disappearance just might decide that their new friends should disappear as well.
