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Paris by the book, by Carol Drinkwater
Paris in the spring is like no other time of year, no other place on earth. April in Paris.Grace, my young English heroine in THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF, who is trying to escape the scars of...
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What's for dinner? by Janie Hampton
'Simple but appetising' minced meat pie. Woman's Own, 1964When Mary Gallati wrote her Hostess Dinner Book in 1953, she thought her recipes were the height of modern cooking. Reading it nearly 70 years...
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Medicine, Murder and Mouse Droppings - by Ruth Downie
If I’d known that my three chapters for that “start a novel” competition would turn into a whole series of murder mysteries, I’d never have based them on a Roman army medic. All I was looking for at...
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The Bigger Picture by Sophia Bennett
Our guest for March is Sophia Bennett, who has been here before. She writes about herself:Sophia Bennett's novels tell the adventures of creative young people in the worlds of fashion, music and art,...
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Cabinet of Curiosities - A Cat's Got In! - by Charlotte Wightwick
The last few weeks for me have been all about one thing. No, not Brexit.February and March have, for me, been the months of The Cat. Within days of my Feline Overlord arriving, I was fully under the...
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March Competition
To win a copy of Sophia Bennett's The Bigger Picture, just answer the question below in the comments section.‘Which creative woman has most inspired you, and why?’Then send a copy of your answer to...
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Thomas Cromwell by Mary Hoffman (review)
Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein the Younger 1534In Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, Thomas Cromwell shows this portrait to his son Gregory. It has recently come from the painter, Hans Holbein the...
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Culpeper and Writing, by Gillian Polack
I often ask people “What would you like me to write about in my articles?” They want me (mostly) to write about people. My fiction is about people, but my historian side isn’t that kind of historian....
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Owing to unforeseen circumstance, Anna Mazzola is unable to post today. She will be back next month.
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Tips from The New Family Receipt Book (1837) - Katherine Langrish
This book has been in my family since I was a child; I can only assume it's been handed down over generations, and it's given me and my mother quite a lot of amusement over the years. It is: The New...
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Cherry Blossom Time - Joan Lennon
In the garden of the flat below us is a beautiful flowering cherry tree. Every year, we watch the weather closely - worry when the buds are just a whisker shy of bursting and the temperature drops...
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History in Abundance by Sheena Wilkinson
Greetings from the Clockhouse, Arvon’s writing retreat in the grounds of The Hurst in Shropshire. I’m sitting here in front of a view that hasn’t changed substantially in centuries, a landscape that...
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SUMMER IN FEBRUARY by Adèle Geras
If you follow this link, you will find an account of my involvement with the Alice in Wonderland celebrations to celebrate the anniversary of this novel's publication....
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'"Certaine Wytches" - A Tapestry of Magic' by Karen Maitland
'Certaine Wytches.' Tapestry by Anne JacksonI have just enjoyed a morning at a fascinating and unusual exhibition of knotted tapestries by the talented, American-born artist, Anne Jackson, on the theme...
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Leather Bikini Bottoms!
replica Roman leather bikini bottomsby Caroline Lawrence (This blog post is about how a pair of 2000-year-old Roman leather bikini bottoms in the Museum of London inspired a scene in my new kids’ book,...
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Commissioning a reliquary of Rose la Touche - Michelle Lovric
This post is a meditation on the confluence of belief, grief and love. It’s also about how research takes you into places of the heart as well as crevices of the brain.There are some stabs of...
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My father's war: "They alone did not surrender."
“Little known but great in spirit are the men of Timor,” said Winston Churchill. “They alone did not surrender.”My mother became a war widow in 1963 when Dad succumbed to a massive heart attack at the...
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On Time
by Antonia SeniorAmid a cacophony of fiction, there are two non-fiction books on my bedside table. Both brilliant, both about Time with a capital T - and both radically altering the way I view reality,...
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Reading Aloud - an activity for grown-ups
Is there anyone else out there that reads whole books out loud to their adult partner? Is it really an activity for grown-ups?Well, my partner and I have taken to doing this, and it is a great way to...
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A Samurai in Seville - by Lesley Downer
Hasekura in Rome. Portrait by Claude Deruet (1588-1660), with his galleon, the Date Maru, behind.On October 28 1613 a samurai called Hasekura Tsunenaga set off on an epic voyage to an unexplored and...
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