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A moving and inspiring encounter with Dutch wartime history
On a recent visit to my father’s birthplace, Amsterdam, I went to the Verzetsmuseum - the Museum of the Dutch Resistance - which is to be found in the leafy Plantage district to the East of the city....
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Was This the First Manned Flight? by Ann Swinfen
Landscape with the Fall of IcarusSince earliest times, it seems, mankind has looked up at the birds and dreamed of flying. The ancient legend of Daedalus and Icarus embodies both the dream and the...
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Hot 100 2015 by Imogen Robertson
Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-PflanzenHappy Solstice all!The midsummer fires were, I believe, normally lighted on the feast of St John, which is the 24th June, so you still have time to gather...
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All the Perfumes of Arabia by Kate Lord Brown
Perfume is the key to our memories – Kipling said ‘it makes our heartstrings crack’. It evokes people, a place, a time. Here in the Middle East, fragrance is highly prized, and enjoyed everywhere from...
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Why weren't all the Germans like Maria von Maltzan? By Leslie Wilson
Nazi boycott of Jewish shops. Photo: German Federal ArchiveOne month after Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany, the Reichstag building went up in flames. The arson was blamed on Marinus van der...
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KING JOHN'S BLING by Elizabeth Chadwick
King John's tomb Worcester CathedralAs a writer, much of the need-to-know detail for my novel is the background material culture of my settings. While it's vitally important to get the mindset and...
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ETHEL WHO? by Eleanor Updale
Last month, I was inspired by an old magazine to write about aluminium knickers. I warned you then that the publication might prove to be a treasure trove for History Girls posts. So here's something...
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Holidaying on the French Riviera, Grand Hotel Style by Carol Drinkwater
I am suffering from Deadline-itis. Two deadlines glaring at me with fanged intentions. As always during these stressful moments, it seems that all the world apart from me is in holiday mode; either on...
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Jami Attenberg's Saint Mazie, by Louisa Young
This is Jami Attenberg, a young Brooklyn novelist who is as good as they all wish they were. You may have seen her earlier novel The Middlesteins, which dismembers a 'typical' American Jewish family...
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Fighting Cocks and Showcased Skeletons, or Respect in Retrospect, by Clare...
The record of history is a living thing, not just connecting people across time but ever-evolving, reflecting the changing sensibilities of those looking back. Each generation considers the past with...
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Interview with Rebecca Mascull by Lydia Syson
It's a great pleasure to welcome Rebecca Mascull to the blog today. Her new novel, SONG OF THE SEA MAID, is out this month and tells the haunting story of Dawnay Price, an eighteenth-century anomaly....
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June Competition
We have five copies of Rebecca Mascull's new novel, Song of the Sea Maid, to give away to five UK residents with the most interesting and persuasive answers to this question: "What is the best novel...
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It's Wolf hall - again!
I know it's been over for some time and we've probably all watched Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell since then. But I wanted to consider what a TV series does differently from a play, from a book....
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The Problem with Medieval Medicine - Gillian Polack
This last month I’ve been ill. Not seriously ill. Just a virus that goes on and on and on. A debilitating virus with nasty symptoms, but just a virus. The reason I can say this with such resigned...
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Review: Paul Scott's The Chinese Love Pavilion, by Y S Lee
Hello, friends. This month, I’d like to talk about a novel by Paul Scott called The Chinese Love Pavilion. I know, I know: SKETCHY TITLE ALERT! Don't worry: I understand that this is a PG-rated blog. I...
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Vik and The Night Raider
by Marie-Louise JensenOne of the first questions I tend to ask myself, once a story has formed in my mind, is where is it set? I need to be able to see it. I've mentioned this in connection with...
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Hardknott and the Dalmatians - by Katherine Langrish
Over the heather the wet wind blows,I've lice in my tunic and a cold in my nose.The rain comes pattering out of the sky,I'm a Wall soldier, I don't know why.The mist creeps over the hard grey stone,My...
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26 Pairs of Eyes by Joan Lennon
Back in February I posted about My Foundling Girl - the object I'd been assigned as part of 26 Pairs of Eyes: Looking at the Overlooked. This project was a collaboration between the writers'...
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Anarchy in Fitzrovia by Lydia Syson
Nervous eyes on cloudy skies, last month I slid a garden cane into a homemade red flag and set off to Fitzrovia lead my first ever historical walk. Liberty’s Fire is a novel that could hardly be more...
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THE AMERICAN CEMETERY in CAMBRIDGE by Adèle Geras
Back in 1962, when I was 18 years old, I was madly in love with an undergraduate at Pembroke College, Cambridge. On a couple of occasions, we went to the Eagle pub and the tales of young American...
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