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Picturing the Raj by Debra Daley
‘Patna is a place of great traffic’, Jemima Kindersley noted, when she visited the ancient chief city of Bihar in 1767. ‘The English Company have one of their most considerable factories there, where...
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Seven Pattle Sisters, a Woolf and a Bell by Sophia Bennett
Our extra guest for March is Sophia BennettSophia Bennett’s debut novel, Threads, won The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition in 2009. She has since published several further teen...
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Stories of Inspiration (historical fiction writers trace their journeys from...
Stories of Inspiration(historical fiction writers trace their journeysfrom starting point to finished work)edited by Suzanne FoxI've been looking forward to receiving this book (whose production was a...
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Deeds not words by Sheena Wilkinson
Not everything I saw on TV was so benignIt is 1974. Or 1975. Or 1973. The television news is on. Belfast. I’m standing in my school uniform. Mummy brushes my hair and says, Don’t look. Somewhere has...
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Portrait of a Lady . A guest post by Philip Stott. Introduced by Adèle Geras
For some years now, the Stotts, (Philip and Anne) have been good friends of mine. The friendship began when Philip emailed my late husband, Norman Geras, on his blog (normblog). Norm very quickly...
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"I Conjure the Blood" by Karen Maitland
Spider's web. Photographer: Per Palmkvist KnudsenOur village has recently seen the installation of a defibrillator, thanks to the amazing fundraising efforts of one young schoolboy. Living out in the...
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Diagnosing Lovesickness in Ancient Rome
by Caroline Lawrence Readers of my Roman Mysteries books for kids know that I am obsessed with Roman medicine, the four humours, and apotropaic images that keep away sickness (and other bad things)....
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The George Bernard Shaw Cookbook - Michelle Lovric
Yes, it really is a thing.I used to consult The George Bernard Shaw Vegetarian Cookbook in the British Library but I have just acquired a battered second-hand copy of my own. You probably know...
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Women of the Road: The Real Highwaywomen of the 17th Century by Katherine...
When you picture a highwaywoman, you probably think of something like this…Margaret Lockwood as The Wicked Lady, 1945.Or this…Illustration by Eric Fraser from Folklore Myths and Legends, 1973.We’re all...
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Family trees and hidden stories.
Who do you think you are?By Antonia SeniorDespite my profound and enduring love for history, I have never been particularly interested in genealogy. But a recent email from my American cousin uncovered...
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Losing Their Heads and Losing Their Minds – Elizabeth Fremantle tells tales...
The heroine of The Girl in the Glass Tower, Arbella Stuart, spent a number of years until her death in captivity at the Tower of London. The Tower of my title refers in part to this but also to her...
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Sadayakko in London by Lesley Downer
On Tuesday May 8th 1900 a group of Japanese travellers sailed into Liverpool and that afternoon stepped through the great Doric arch out of Euston Station in London. They’d been on the road for over a...
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The Lying Press
by Marie-Louise JensenThe German phrase Lügenpresse has come into use again in the last few years with the renewed rise of the far right across the world. This is a term that can be easily searched for...
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Coming home - by Sue Purkiss
Well, I have to admit it - this month I've been caught on the hop. My day for posting is next week, when I'm going to be away; and various projects are at that stage where they've needed my attention,...
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A TRIP TO THE BATHS by Penny Dolan
When visiting friends and family come to see us, we can take them to several local places: Fountains Abbey, Brimham Rocks, Bolton Abbey or Sutton Bank and the North York moors, and so on and so on.Yet...
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Past Imperfect by Mary Hoffman
Past Imperfect? Selling children's historical fiction to a modern audienceRoman Nine Muses frieze, Louvre, Paris. Wikimedia CommonsThis was the title of a very successful meeting at the Society of...
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The Case of the Cottingley Fairies by Katherine Webb
Back in 2009, I wrote my second novel, The Unseen. It was set in Berkshire during the long, hot summer of 1911, when England was poised on the brink of the huge social changes the First World War would...
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The Trial of the Scottish Chartists - by Ann Swinfen
The history of the Chartist movement in England is widely known and well documented. Less well known, perhaps, is the Chartist movement in Scotland, and the trial which took place in Edinburghin...
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Heartthrobs by Carol Dyhouse - Review by Imogen Robertson
I am a reading machine at the moment. I volunteered to be a judge on the inaugural HWA Endeavour Ink Crown for Historical Fiction and am the proud possessor of just under a hundred new novels to read...
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Scotland's Medieval Monasteries by Catherine Hokin
Forget Park Run, Tough Mutha, Iron Man and triathlons. A few weeks ago we embarked on an endurance feat far more favourable to writers on the research trail: 4 monasteries in 24 hours or, as we fondly...
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