In the history of my home in Pennsylvania there is a true account in the history of Armstrong County of a woman's harrowing story of her kidnapping in which two of her sons were murdered by a band of American Indians. She was taken with two of the children, one of whom was an infant, after one son being murdered at the initial abduction. Her other son was shortly thereafter murdered. For six days she was forced to walk barefoot through the wilderness in captivity carying her infant child and finally escaped with her infant still in tow. She walked back to her home where she was received and cared for. She wrote of her ordeal in a book that was published during her life. Would you read a book that went into detail of what she had to endure?

We do have a rule against self-promotion in this community. (Thank you, everyone, for sticking to it and helping to make this community great. It's much appreciated!) But I thought we could have the *occasional* post where members can share their stuff, whatever it may be. So have at it! Comment on this post (and only on this post!) and share your website, social media, Skool community, links to your books, Substack, etc... whatever you like! It doesn't have to be HF-related. Two requirements: (1) Tell people what to expect. So if you post your Substack newsletter or your IG or your Skool community, tell us what it's about. Don't expect people to have to go look at your link to find out. Let them know if they might be interested. If it's about cooking, writing memoir, travel, makeup, business, photography, reviewing horror novels, whatever... tell us what it's about. (2) Don't just drop a comment and run. Check out other people's stuff. Read through the other comments, like them, and — if you're interested in the description — check out their links. Enjoy 😊

I don't know if I have a single favourite word, but since I first heard it, I've loved the word 'chiaroscuro', which means the contrast of light and shadow (especially in art). Wikipedia uses the example of the attached painting to illustrate it. (Divine Love Conquering Earthly Love by Giovanni Baglione) I thought you might enjoy this article, full of wonderful made-up words (and some beautiful artwork): The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows: Uncommonly Lovely Invented Words for What We Feel but Cannot Name I love this one: SUERZA n. a feeling of quiet amazement that you exist at all; a sense of gratitude that you were even born in the first place, that you somehow emerged alive and breathing despite all odds, having won an unbroken streak of reproductive lotteries that stretches all the way back to the beginning of life itself. Spanish suerte, luck + fuerza, force. Pronounced “soo-wair-zuh."

If you could invisibly visit any historical setting, and eavesdrop on the conversations, where/when would you go? For me, I really want to know more about Abraham Lincoln's wife, Mary. She got such a bad rap over many things and I'd like to know the truth about her. So I'd be a fly on the wall in Mary's quarters at the White House during the American Civil War, maybe while she was talking with Abraham and then with her dressmaker, Elizabeth Keckley.

This isn't related to any historical fiction I've been reading, just an article I came across on the internet. It looks like Neanderthals practised dentistry. Of course without anaesthetic, though 🫣 "The tooth suggests that Neanderthals potentially could identify the source of pain, decide how to treat it, use the necessary manual dexterity to execute the operation, and withstand the intervention’s pain to diminish future pain. It represents the first time such behavior has been shown in non Homo sapiens, and it predates the earliest-known human example by over 40,000 years." Neanderthal ‘dentists’ treated cavities 59,000 years ago