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Diaz, Trollope and #METOO: Literary safe spaces - by Antonia Senior
The #Metoo movement has claimed its first scalp among male authors, with the disgrace of Pulitzer-prize winning author, Junot Diaz. A bookshop in Maine has pulled all his books. The owner of the...
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The Delivery of Letters - a novelist's dilemma
by Deborah SwiftDespatch Rider 1648Every time I write a book there is nearly always a point in the plot where a letter or message needs to be sent, and I am obliged to calculate how long it will take...
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How Vincent Van Gogh Fell in Love with Japan - by Lesley Downer
‘a little yellow house with green door and shutters, whitewashed inside - on the white walls - very brightly coloured Japanese drawings - red tiles on the floor.’ A couple of weekends ago I was in...
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The history of Schengen
by Marie-Louise JensenI am currently writing a children's book - a contemporary not an historical one - set in the Schengen area. My publisher is an interactive e-book publisher and is now European, so...
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The Garden Museum, Lambeth: by Sue Purkiss
In memory of Beth Chatto, who died earlier this week, aged 94. Apparently she believed that the secret of successful gardening is 'the right plant in the right place'. It's taken me a long time and a...
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Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World by Simon Callow....
The book stood on the shelf at the local library, with both famous names printed equally large across the cover:Â Â Â Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World by Simon Callow.I was having a...
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Ravilious & Co. The Pattern of Friendship: English Artist Designers 1922 -...
Eric Ravilious - The Greenhouse:Cyclemen and TomatoesThis beautifully curated exhibition at Compton Verney Museum and Art Gallery chronicles the collaborations and significant relationships, personal...
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The Eunuch That Would Be Empress by L.J. Trafford
The list of the crimes of Nero runs something like this: He had his first wife executed, he had his mother executed, he kicked his pregnant second wife to death , he castrated a boy and made him to...
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The complexity of medieval Soberton (2) by Carolyn Hughes
In this second part of my story of the manorial structure of Soberton parish, in the Meon Valley, I continue my discussion of the various manors distributed across the parish. If you would like to read...
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Your (Tudor) Dinner Awaits by Imogen Robertson
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A Short History of Mermaids by Catherine Hokin
I've been pondering on mythical creatures lately (too many publisher/audience/bookseller witticisms here to indulge in so I'll resist) and in particular mermaids, largely because I've just lost the...
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1968, looking back, by Leslie Wilson
Robert SchediwyOn this day in May 1968, 'Les evenements' were in full swing. Left-wing workers and students together were challenging the stuffy status quo of postwar France; that was all my fifteen...
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THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL: By Elizabeth Chadwick.
One of the joys of writing historical fiction for me is the detective work of discovering the lives of the characters who populate my novels. Although it's fiction, I want to get as close to their...
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London Zoo by Miranda Miller
  Recently I visited the zoo with my three little grandsons, whose favourite place it is. Felix, aged 22 months, is obsessed with octopuses and butterflies. I was struck by the generous space the...
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Home To Vote, by Carol Drinkwater
As I write this, planes from everywhere are disgorging bands of women into airports across the Republic who have flown home to Ireland to vote YES to the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. It is a vital...
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A Day Trip to Windsor by Janie Hampton
Granny insisted on taking us on a history lessonLast Saturday, two of my grandchildren and I went out for a history and anthropology lesson. We could have gone to Legoland in Berkshire but chose nearby...
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A Roman Query... by Lynne Benton
There is one problem peculiar to writers of historical fiction, especially ancient historical fiction, and that is the fact that nobody has first-hand knowledge of all the tiny details we might need to...
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The King, his lover and his lover's wife by Liz Fremantle
Our guest for May is Liz Fremantle who used to be a full-time History Girl. Here she talks about her latest novel.E. C. Fremantle has a BA in English and an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck. As...
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Cabinet of Curiosities by Charlotte Wightwick: The Aristodekos Kouros and...
I owe one of my A-levels to a naked man with pubic hair shaped into a star. Or at least, to a statue with said unusually-groomed privates.I mention this in part because (even more than 20 years on) I...
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May Competition
To win a copy of Liz Fremantle's The Poison Bed, just answer this question in the Comments section below:"Many famous and infamous people have died in the Tower of London, often in mysterious...
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