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England's Tree of the Year - Going, Going, Gone? - Celia Rees
Last week, my friend Barbara and I went on a bit of a pilgrimage to visit this ancient tree. A wild pear (Pyrus Pyraster), the ancestor of our domestic pear trees, it stands at the top of a hill, close...
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Fact and Fiction by Katherine Webb
Something interesting I'm often asked in interviews is how I balance fact and fiction in my novels. And it's a very important balancing act! I often tell the following anecdote: I used to belong to a...
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Pets in the Middle Ages - by Ann Swinfen
If you had lived in the Middle Ages and wanted an animal companion, what would you have chosen? A good deal depended on your gender and occupation. For ladies of the gentry and nobility, one breed...
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Brick Walls and Red Cars by Imogen Robertson
Now, given that to see this post you must have access to the internet, I'm assuming you've all seen this. The latest optical illusion that is tearing through the ether.I spent a long time thinking,...
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Childbirth Rituals in Medieval England by Catherine Hokin
The research demands of my second novel have required me to spend much of my time recently in fourteenth century birthing chambers. I have been buried in tracts on the rituals and beliefs surrounding...
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FLINTS, CLAY, MUD AND WITCHES ... by Leslie Wilson
When I set out to write a novel about a witch in the seventeenth century (choosing the time that a local witch, from Waltham St Lawrence, was prosecuted and hanged, it wasn't just important to do the...
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A PERSONAL APPRECIATION OF ROBERTA GELLIS By Elizabeth Chadwick
I was very saddened the other day to read about the death of much loved, multi-million selling historical and fantasy novelist Roberta Gellis. You can read a brief obituary of this remarkable lady...
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Hieronymus Bosch by Miranda Miller
(c. 1450 – 1516) I’ve seen Bosch’s paintings in Vienna and Venice and have always found him a fascinating and mysterious figure, so...
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History beneath my feet, Left Bank, Paris, by Carol Drinkwater
Caveau de la Huchette Sidney Bechet in 1922 What is in a street?It was my husband, Michel's, birthday last week. We were in Paris. I decided...
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World Menstrual Day by Janie Hampton
Now that I’m too old to have periods, I rely on writing my monthly History Blog to remind me of time passing. Because tomorrow is ‘World Menstrual Day’, that’s what I’m thinking about. What’s the...
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Reconciliation by Julie Summers
At the moment I and about six million fans of the ITV drama series, Home Fires, are locked in a battle-royal with the network. After just two seasons the show has been axed in order for ITV 'to be able...
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Devotion by Louisa Young
Photo credit: Sarah LeeIt seems strange to welcome Louisa Young as our June guest. Until very recently and from the beginning she has been a full time History Girls and has only recently stepped back a...
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Cabinet of Curiosities: Mystery on Everest 1924
When I look around my office I realise that I am a serial offender when it comes to curiosities. I can’t resist them. I have a shelf, as you can see, full of little objects that mean something to me. A...
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To win one of five copies of Louisa Young's new novel, Devotion, please answer in the Comments section below.Then send a copy of your answer to maryhoffman@maryhoffman.co.ukClosing date 7th JuneWe're...
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Finding Michelangelo by Mary Hoffman
Every now and again in a writer’s life there comes an experience that you have just exactly because you are a writer. You are doing your research and you stumble across something you didn’t know or...
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Diminishing vistas by Gillian Polack
I went missing last month, for I was in hospital, recovering from a major operation. I thought “How cool it would be to write a potted history of heart operations for History Girls” but when it came to...
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Historian of the soul, by Vanora Bennett
Sometimes I want my history brave. Dangerously brave. Also full of integrity, thoughtfulness, passion and poetry. That’s when I’m glad there are women like Svetlana Alexievich in the world.When this...
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The Hungry Gap by Susan Price
I was having a bit of a discussion with my editor, Matrice, who is working onA Sterkarm Tryst by Susan PriceA Sterkarm Tryst.She wanted to know what season of the year the book was set in, because my...
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I Nominate by Joan Lennon
I would like to introduce a new category - Honorary (Dead) History Girls. And to start the ball rolling, I'd like to nominate four (I know, it's a bit greedy, but it's not as if we'll ever have to...
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Utopian visions
Regular readers of this blog will probably be familiar with Louise Michel, teacher, poet and revolutionary heroine of the 1871 Paris Commune, but she’s not exactly a well-known figure in the...
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