The Island Paradise: Where Royal Women Disappeared

by Liisa Eyerly

There is no shortage of dark deeds in Roman history. For historical novelists, weaving these real people, places, and scandals into fiction is one of the most rewarding ways to bring the ancient world to life.

In the first two books of the Secrets of Ephesus series, Emperor Domitian's relentless persecution of Christians makes faith a dangerous choice. His assassination sets the stage in the upcoming book, Powers of Death, and sends my sleuth, Sabina, on a trail of clues that leads to the eerie island of Pandateria—modern-day Ventotene.

Like the other Pontine Islands, Pandateria belonged to Emperor Augustus (31 BC–AD 14). Early in his reign, he transformed the remote volcanic outcrop into a lavish imperial retreat complete with terraces, gardens, expansive thermal baths, aqueducts, and sea-facing promenades. From a distance, it must have appeared idyllic—a glittering paradise rising from the Mediterranean.  (image by ChatGPT)

Yet beneath the luxury lurked a darker purpose.

Its isolation made Pandateria an ideal place to send inconvenient relatives. Roman society frowned upon openly murdering family members, especially imperial women. Exile offered a more respectable solution. A troublesome wife, daughter, or niece could simply vanish from public life while technically remaining alive.

A gilded prison, however, was still a prison.

Augustus banished his daughter, Julia the Elder, to Pandateria in 2 BC. In AD 29, Emperor Tiberius exiled Agrippina the Elder there, where she eventually died of starvation. Later, Domitian reportedly exiled both his wife, Domitia, and his niece, Flavia Domitilla, who is honored today as a Christian saint. Across the empire, exile was a familiar tool of control; even the Apostle John received the visions recorded in Revelation while banished to the island of Patmos. (Agrippina the Elder via Creative Commons, Wikipedia)

Today, the remains of Augustus's vast seaside complex—known as Villa Giulia—still cling to Ventotene's windswept cliffs. Archaeologists have uncovered courtyards, cisterns, servants' quarters, and subterranean service passages leading down to the sea. 

Much of the palace itself has vanished after centuries of stone robbing, treasure hunting, careless excavations, erosion, and quarrying. Entire wings, upper stories, and decorative elements have disappeared, leaving only fragments of what was once a sprawling imperial estate. 

That loss somehow makes the site even more haunting. 

Standing on Punta Eolo, gazing across the same waters once viewed by Augustus, Julia, Agrippina, and perhaps Flavia Domitilla, it is easy to imagine the uneasy contrast between beauty and captivity. The surviving baths, terraces, and underground corridors hint at extraordinary luxury. Yet they also whisper of isolation, political intrigue, and lives quietly erased from history.  https://magazine.snav.it/ventotene-punta-eolo/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Pandateria was paradise for some.  For others, it was the last place they were ever truly free.

Step into the shadowy streets of 96 AD Ephesus, where danger lurks around every corner, and the line between friend and foe is razor-thin. Winner of the Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award, Obedient Unto Death launches a gripping historical mystery series set in the perilous world of first-century Rome. In Fortunes of Death, fearless Christian sleuth Sabina returns—risking everything to expose murder, magic, and corruption beneath the empire’s glittering surface. With rich historical detail and powerful spiritual themes, author Liisa Eyerly delivers intrigue, danger, and hope in equal measure. Reviewer Deborah Anne raves: “Murder mystery—Intrigue—Love—Fellowship through Christ. This series has it all! Eyerly is wonderful! If you’re tired of boring—read this series! I love a good mystery!” Prepare to be hooked!

Visit me at my website, on my Author Facebook page,

or purchase my books at:

Fortunes of Death

Obedient Unto Death

My Amazon book page

Mystery, murder, and mayhem aren’t your typical Christian themes—but why should secular authors have all the fun solving crimes in ancient Rome? My love of history, scripture, and whodunits led me to blend faith with intrigue, bringing the world of the early Christians to life. Writing from my home in the woods of northern Wisconsin, I also draw inspiration from my travels to Turkey, Greece, and Italy, where I’ve walked the same streets my characters once did. Through historical mysteries, I explore a time when faith was a matter of life and death—literally.

Western Hearths: Cowboy Chuckwagon Meals

June brought hot days and endless miles for cowboys driving cattle across the plains. Life on the trail could be difficult, but they could look forward to a hearty meal at the end of a long day. For cowboys, a meal provided more than fuel. It gave them the chance to sit around the fire and swap tall tales or sing songs.

The Heart of the Cattle Drive

An authentic chuckwagon that accompanied cowboys as they drove cattle across the dusty plains of the early American West. (public domain image courtesy of Carol M. Highsmith via Wikimedia Commons)

Outfitted with a simple stove, storage for provisions, and a generous supply of coffee, the chuckwagon was the heart of a cattle drive. The cook, often nicknamed Cookie, was highly respected. Besides turning dried goods, salted meat, and basic staples into filling meals, the cook kept spirits high and tempers cool.

Chuckwagon staples included:

• Beans and bacon
• Biscuits or cornbread
• Coffee (often strong and black)
• Bacon, salt pork, or jerky
• Occasional canned or dried fruit
• Simple desserts when time allowed

Cowboys spent long hours in the saddle, and the chuckwagon’s provisions needed to sustain them from dawn until dusk. Many a cowboy hit the trail with an extra biscuit and jerky in his saddle bag.

Chuckwagon Skillet Beans

You can’t get more traditional than a pot of chuckwagon beans with bacon and onions. Easy to prepare over a fire or stove, this simple supper serves up a taste of the open range.

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked beans (pinto or kidney)
• 2 tablespoons bacon fat, lard, or butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2–3 slices of bacon, diced
• ½ teaspoon salt, more to taste
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• Optional: a pinch of chili powder or paprika

Instructions

• Heat bacon fat in a cast-iron skillet over medium heat.
• Add diced bacon and onions, cooking until bacon is crisp and onions are translucent.
• Stir in beans, salt, and pepper (plus optional spices).
• Cook until the beans are heated through and flavors meld, about 10–15 minutes.
• Serve with fresh biscuits, cornbread, or flatbread.

Variations

For extra flavor, add a spoonful of molasses or brown sugar near the end of cooking—cowboys often enjoyed a touch of sweetness with savory dishes. You can also turn up the heat by adding chopped jalapenos or other peppers.

Bringing the Trail to Your Table

Recreate this chuckwagon meal to honor the cowboys who shaped the American West. 

As you eat, picture them gathered around the fire sharing food on the open range or mounting their horses at the start of the day.

About Janalyn Voigt

Janalyn Voigt fell in love with literature at an early age when her father read chapters from classics as bedtime stories. When Janalyn grew older, she put herself to sleep with tales "written" in her head.

Today Janalyn is a storyteller who writes in several genres. Her Montana Gold historical romance series is based on actual historical events. Montana Gold explores faith, love, and courage in the Wild West.

Learn more about Janalyn, read the first chapters of her books, subscribe to her e-letter, and join her reader clubs at http://janalynvoigt.com.

Gilded Age Cruising the Thousand Islands

During the Gilded Age, cruising the Thousand Islands was far more than transportation—it was a symbol of elegance, leisure, and social standing. Stretching along the St. Lawrence River between New York and Canada, the region became a fashionable summer retreat for industrialists, politicians, and wealthy families seeking scenic escape and refined recreation. To arrive by water was part of the experience—to cruise was to belong.

Steam-powered vessels defined the era. Graceful side-wheel and screw steamers carried visitors from hubs like Clayton and Alexandria Bay through a maze of islands and shorelines. These boats served as floating parlors, featuring polished interiors, attentive service, and spacious decks designed for sightseeing and socializing while the river scenery unfolded around them.

For the elite, private yachts became the ultimate status symbol. Built by premier shipyards, they blended luxury and innovation with brass fittings, upholstered lounges, and shaded decks for afternoon conversation. Cruising routes often became social stages where travelers admired—and quietly judged—one another’s vessels, clothing, and grand island estates.

Excursion cruises opened the experience to middle-class tourists eager to sample the glamour of island life. Narrated tours highlighted famous summer homes and landmarks like Boldt Castle, adding romance and mystique to the journey while allowing ordinary visitors a glimpse into elite society.

Cruising also shaped daily life throughout the region. Steamers connected islands, hotels, and mainland towns, delivering mail, supplies, and guests on dependable schedules. Beneath the elegance, however, navigating narrow channels and hidden shoals required expert pilots and expanding lighthouse systems.

Gilded Age cruising captured the spirit of the time: faith in technology, celebration of leisure, and the pursuit of beauty best enjoyed from the deck of a well-appointed boat. Gliding across the sparkling river at sunset, passengers embraced the era’s romance, privilege, adventure, and confidence in modern progress and luxury.

ABOUT A SUMMER AT THOUSAND ISLAND HOUSE:

Addison Bell has always had an enduring love for children, so she nannies at the renowned Thousand Island House on Staple’s Island? As Addi thrives in her work, she attracts the attention of the recreation pavilion’s manager, Liam Donovan, as well as the handsome Navy Officer Lt. Worthington, a lighthouse inspector, hotel patron, and single father of mischievous little Jimmy. But when Jimmy goes missing, Addi finds both her job and her reputation in danger. How can she calm the churning waters of Liam, Lt. Worthington, and the President, clear her name, and avoid becoming the scorn of the Thousand Islands community?

ABOUT SUSAN:

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than thirty times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books. She has sixteen in her fiction line. Susan is also a published author of two premarital books, stories in a dozen compilations, and hundreds of published articles. Susan lives in Northern Virginia and enjoys traveling the world. Visit www.SusanGMathis.com/fiction for more.

The Black Freedman Who Called a Native Nation to Jesus

   by Tom Goodman

One of the lazy assumptions of our age is that Christianity is a “white man’s religion.”

There are reasons people say this. Some of them are painful and undeniable:

White slaveholders quoted Scripture while holding men, women, and children in bondage.

White foreign missionaries sometimes confused the gospel with Western culture.

White churches too often blessed what Christ would have judged.

But history has a way of complicating our lazy slogans.

I doubt you’ve ever heard of Joseph “Jesse” Island, a formerly enslaved Black man in Indian Territory. His story begins in one of the most sorrowful chapters in American history. During the removal of the Five Tribes to Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma, Native peoples brought with them the thousands of African slaves they owned. Roughly 5,000 to 7,500 enslaved people walked the Trail of Tears with their Native owners.

After the Civil War, Jesse Island was free from his Indian master. And what did he do with his freedom? He went around preaching Christ. Not only to other Black freedmen, but also to the Muscogee and other Native people.

This was no safe hobby. So many Native people were turning to Christianity that Muscogee leaders expanded their “lash laws”—punishments originally designed for cattle rustling and rape and murder—to include those who held or attended Christian meetings.

A first offense could bring fifty lashes. A second could bring one hundred. A third could mean death.

Five tribal police caught Jesse Island. They bared his back, roped him by the wrists, and hoisted him until his feet barely touched the ground. One asked where he had gotten this “new religion.”

Island answered, “In the Old Nation.”

In other words, the nation that had sold him to his Native owners in the first place.

The reply came back: “You have set half of our people to praying and this is what we are going to whip you for.” They lacerated his back fifty times—and then struck him five more times to make their point.

Here was a Black man, enslaved by a Native master, being whipped by Native police for preaching Christianity to responsive Native people.

Is your mind spinning? Are your assumptions upended?

Whatever the faults of white Christians, when those tribal police punished Jesse Island, Christianity was not functioning as the religion of white social control. It was the faith of a freedman who could not stop telling others about Jesus despite withering torture.

Jesse Island’s story does not erase the hypocritical use of Christianity by whites. It exposes it. But it also shows that Christ cannot be reduced to the worst people who exploited his name. The oppressed often saw something in Jesus that their oppressors had missed, buried, or betrayed.

Jesse Island understood that.

I found the story of Jesse Island while reading Donald Fixico’s excellent history of tribal law enforcement called The Lighthorse Police. I am a member of the Western Writers of Amercia, and I was given the book to write a review for Roundup magazine. His book is about the history of Native law enforcement, not Native attitudes to Christianity. But his account of how tribal police treated Jesse Island was compelling.

To read more about the spread of Christianity among Black and Native populations, I recommend the following articles:

• “Why the Enslaved Adopted the Religion of Their Masters—and Transformed It”

• “Christianity is Not a Colonizer’s Religion”

• “Christianity and Indigenous Peoples in Canada”

Also, check out my sermon from 2020 called “Has Christianity Been Complicit in Injustice?”

Tom

Today’s devotional is my own, but the illustration imagining Jesse Island preaching to Freedmen and Natives was generated by ChatGPT.

Free Book!

A deadly train stunt. A pistol-packing preacher. A UFO crash in 1897. A town that outlawed dancing. In Ten Texas Tales, you'll find stories like this from turn-of-the-century Texas. I mine that seam of history for my novels and for anecdotes to put in my monthly newsletter. Each month, I’ll give you nuggets of history, recommended books and films, and behind-the-scenes looks at my novels.

A Brief History of Soapmaking and a Recipe

 

Have you ever made soap? As a historical romance writer, I have scenes with my characters using soap. The same bar of soap for washing clothes, bathing, washing dishes, and scrubbing floors. Today we have so many kinds to choose from on our store shelves. They range from bars to soft soap to detergent in a variety of fragrances. Research is a writer's joy. So doing a deep-dive into the history of soap making was fascinating. I'll share the highlights here.

Ancient Soap Making

Archaeologists have discovered clay cylinders with soap recipes made from ash and fat dating back to 2800 B.C. They believe it was used to clean wool before carding it to make clothing and other items.

Ancient Egyptians combined animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts.  A 1550 B.C. Medical text explained how to use soap to treat skin ailments and for washing.

Strigil 

Romans popularized bathing but didn't use soap for personal bathing. Instead, they coated themselves with olive oil, then scraped away the dirt using a strigil, a curved tool. They may or may not have followed that with a bath.

Medieval Soap Makers

During the Middle-Ages soap making became a profitable trade. Mediterranean soap makers refined the process using olive oil instead of animal fat. Castile soap, made from olive oil was gentler than many earlier versions. It became highly prized in Europe. It has stood the test of time and can be found in many stores, online, and in various fragrances.

Alas, soap remained expensive for centuries; most ordinary families used it sparingly, reserving it for laundry and special occasions. No wonder some people only bathed once a year.

 

Colonial and Frontier Soap Making

In the American Colonials, homemade soap became a necessity. Imported soap was scarce and expensive. Housewives saved the ash from their fireplaces. Hardwood was the best. Once there was a sufficient amount, they poured rainwater through it. The ash became lye, a caustic alkaline solution. Animal fats saved from cooking and rendering were boiled with the lye in large iron kettles. Often over a fire in the yard. Soap making was time consuming and if not done correctly could produce a caustic lye soap that irritated the skin.

Pioneer families on the frontier might dedicate an entire day to soap making to produce enough for the year ahead. 

Industrial Revolution Changes Everything

In 1791, French Chemist Nicolas Leblanc developed a process for manufacturing soap ash from common salt. This made Alkalis more available and affordable. With the continuing evolution of manufacturing, factories could produce soap more cheaply than homemade.

Cheaper soap paired well with the Victorian Era's focus on regular bathing and handwashing as a way to combat disease.

By the late 1800s, recognizable brands emerged advertising purity, fragrance and beauty benefits. In 1879 Ivory Soap was introduced. Not only was it white, pure and cleansing, it floated. Soap was more than a cleaning product it became a symbol of respectability and modern living. Ivory like Castile soap is still sold today.

 

The Twentieth Century and Beyond

During World Wars I and II when fats and oils were in short supply due to the war, synthetic detergents were developed. Most modern-day "soaps" are technically detergents rather than true soap.

Even with soap easily available, the interest in traditional soap making never disappeared. In recent decades, artisan soap makers have brought their creations to farmers markets and speciality shops. Their fragrances give shoppers wonderful choices.

What began as a simple mixture of animal fat and ash evolved into an essential household product, a public health tool, and a luxury item. 

Soap making kit

 

Soap Making Facts Our Ancestors Knew

·       Soap making was a seasonal chore. Many farm families made it once or twice a year. It required large quantities of fat and ashes, plus several days of work.

·       Ashes were valuable. Hardwood ash from oak, hickory, and maple were carefully saved. Soft woods like pine produced inferior lye. But if that was all that was available, the ash was used for soap making.

·       Nothing went to waste. Cooking grease, bacon drippings, and rendered animal fat were all collected throughout the year. What seems like kitchen waste to us was an important soap-making ingredient.

·       Soap could be dangerous. A batch with too much lye could burn skin and damage clothes. Experienced homemakers took pride in producing a mild, effective soap.

·       Fancy soap was a status symbol. By the late 1800s, perfumed soaps wrapped in decorative paper became popular gifts. A fragrant bar of imported soap was considered an elegant indulgence.

·       The annual hog butchering supplied soap ingredients. After butchering season, rendered lard and tallow provided the fat needed for the year's soap making. Farm wives usually planned soap making while the supply of rendered fat was still fresh.

·       Whiter soap was considered the best. Light-colored soap was often viewed as a sign of quality. Dark soap wasn't inferior, but white bars look cleaner and therefore more refined.

·       A good soap recipe was a family treasure. Many homemakers guarded their soap recipes and techniques just as carefully as the bread recipes, passing them down from mother to daughter.

 

A Soap Recipe

This recipe is not what my great-great grandmothers made because coconut oil would not have been available on the American frontier. If you want to delve into the art of soap making, this recipe is a great start.

Safety first: Lye (Sodium Hydroxide) can cause serious burns. Always wear gloves, eye protection, and work in a well-ventilated area.

Beginners Cold-Press Soap

Ingredients:

·       16 ounces Olive oil

·       16 ounces Coconut Oil

·       12 ounces distilled water

·       4.5 ounces of sodium hydroxide (lye)

     Instructions:

1.   Wear protective gear, slowly add lye to the water. NEVER add water to the lye.

2.   Allow lye solution to cool to about 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit.

3.   Melt the oils and allow them to cool to a similar temperature.

4.   Pour the lye solution into the oil.

5.   Blend until the mixture reaches "trace", when it thickens to a pudding-like consistency.

6.   Pour into mold.

7.   Cover and allow to harden for 24-48 hours.

8.   Remove from mold and cut into bars.

9.   Cure the bars in a dry location for four to six weeks before use.

Have you ever made soap? Have you ever used Castile soap or Ivory soap? What is your favorite soap?

 Blog  Sources:

1. Konkol, K.L., and Rasmussen, S.C. An Ancient Cleanser: Soap Production and Use in Antiquity.
2. The Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 B.C.).
3. Pliny the Elder. Natural History.
4. Virginia Smith. Clean: A History of Personal Hygiene and Purity.
5. Alice Morse Earle. Home Life in Colonial Days.
6. Lydia Maria Child. The American Frugal Housewife.
7. American Cleaning Institute, "Soaps & Detergents History."

 

Cindy Ervin Huff, is a multi-published award-winning author in Historical and Contemporary Romance. She’s a 2018 Selah Finalist. Cindy has a passion to encourage other writers on their journey. When she isn’t writing, she feeds her reading addiction and enjoys her retirement with her husband of 50 plus years, Charles. Visit her at www.cindyervinhuff.com.

 

Nine years ago I wrote my debut historical romance. Click here to grab a copy. This story started my writing journey. Evangeline and Jake was a story that sat in my head for a few years. A female doctor going west as a mail-order bride intrigued me. Hope you enjoy it.