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"Do not gurgle" - by Katherine Langrish
This little book was printed in 1918.It begins: "It is a sign of the times that there is a very large demand for a handy little manual which will present in an easily comprehended and concise form a...
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Forgotten Footprints by Rosemary Hayes
FORGOTTEN FOOTPRINTSRed line marks the route of the ZuytdorpWhen I lived in Australia I became hooked on the stories about the survivors of shipwrecks along the West Australian coast during the 17th...
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Legacies – Katherine Roberts
Legacy – n. sum or money or article bequeathed; material or immaterial thing handed down by predecessor.I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the things we leave behind us, where we leave them and why....
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YESTERDAY Part 2.....THE CLOTHES by Adèle Geras
This is the second of the extracts from my memoir YESTERDAY (first published in 1992) which details my time at Oxford between 1963 and 1966. It’s 50 years this September since I matriculated and in...
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All at Sea in a Wash-Tub by Karen Maitland
Some snippets of history are so delightful that while you suspect they may have grown a little in the telling, you really want them to be true. This event is said to have taken place in...
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Using Museums for Creative Writing
by Caroline LawrenceDr James George Beaney was a flamboyantly successful doctor of the 19th century. The son of a labourer, he was born in Canterbury and apprenticed to a surgeon. Suffering from poor...
View ArticleJuly Competition winners
The winners of copies of John Guy's book, The Children of Henry the Eighth are:Lovely TreesRosie GloverSally ZigmondElaine Hewlett"Unknown" (who wrote about Lady Jane GreyPlease contact Anna Silva at...
View ArticleGifts to the water - Michelle Lovric
Last week I bestowed my handbag upon the waters of Venice. The strap had snapped open as I was getting out of a boat. The contents spilled into the lagoon.I experienced several strange sensations while...
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On Broken Bones and Libricide, by Laurie Graham
I don’t know if it’s just me but I find it very hard to revisit a book after it has been published. It’s something authors have to do, if for some reason there’s renewed interest in the book or, as in...
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...or The Little Glass Slipper, by H.M. Castor
From My Book of Favourite Fairy Tales, illus. Jennie Harbour (1893-1959). via Wikimedia CommonsI’ve recently had reason to do a little delving into the well-known fairy tale Cinderella. I’m no fairy...
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Writing Battles, by Manda Scott
I have just had the privilege and honour of teaching a week-long Arvon course at Lumb Bank with Emma Darwin and Rob Low as co-tutors. For those of you who haven’t been, the location is Ted Hughes'...
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Not Tonight.... Catherine Johnson
Most of us who write historical novels play tricks with the truth. However much we check what people were wearing or eating or saying, the names of the dances or the popular songs, we will always get...
View ArticleDo we actually learn from history?
by Marie-Louise Jensen.I spent a part of May revising history GCSE with my youngest son. His in-depth topic was Germany 1918-1945. It was a familiar topic to me having studied German at university. But...
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Myrcna Hlaefdige: by Sue Purkiss
Those of you who regularly read my posts (you there, lurking in the corner - come on, show yourself! Oh, just a shadow. All right then, as you were...) will know that I've already written one or two...
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All The Week To Dry? by Penny Dolan
In Knaresborough, near where I live, is Tentergate, part of the high sloping bank above the River Nidd. Once it was the open area where cloth from the water-mill was stretched tightly across frames to...
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The Spirit of the Times - Celia Rees
Last weekend, I was at the Cropredy Folk Festival, Fairport Convention's annual August gathering, deep in the Oxfordshie countryside. I'm coming out here. I admit it. I'm a Folk Fan and have been for...
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Leonardo da Vinci – The Mechanics of Man
Theresa BreslinIf you are easily grossed out – do not read on!My grandfather kept hens – not just for the eggs but also for the pot. I can’t recall actually watching him dispatching a favoured fowl for...
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'The Home Boy who went to live with the Indians' by A L Berridge
Our broadband went down last week. Instant panic. I was surrounded by books and notes and maps and pictures, but how could I possibly work without the internet? I knew my story and the details I...
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Home (is where the stories are) by Imogen Robertson
Forgive me, fellow History Girls! It’s going to be a short post from me this month. I’m up in my home town of Darlington celebrating my parent’s Golden Wedding Anniversary and between the champagne and...
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The Road Home by Kate Lord Brown
The ruins and restored palace in Santa Margherita de Belice on which Donnafugata was basedMaybe you saw this recent article about 'the house that time forgot' - a perfectly intact home of the 1930s,...
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