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Where does history begin, actually? Scattered reflections by Leslie Wilson
Kendal Castle; tangible history in my childhoodThe past begins as each second is left behind; indeed, the present moment is only a footstep between the past and the future. But where is the boundary...
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Off to the Alderney Literature Festival.
Well, I am writing this in haste this month so apologies for a short blog.On the day this post is scheduled to go live, I will be at the Alderney Festival of Historical Literature and preparing to...
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Edward Lear by Miranda Miller
I’ve been reading Edward Lear’s wonderful nonsense poems to my little grandsons and have just noticed that there is a plaque to him near where I live. The site is now a seedy mews off the Holloway...
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South of France Magic and Make-Believe, by Carol Drinkwater
Quite by chance, while internet browsing, I came across an article in Variety magazine – almost a film industry bible – announcing a new film studio complex converted from warehouses to be opened on...
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Pamela Gibson of Bletchley Park by Janie Hampton
Pamela Gibson is the oldest surviving person to have worked at Bletchley Park decoding centre during the Second World war. ‘But Bletchley was not my whole life,’ she says in her strong, velvety voice....
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What a Difference A Day Makes by Julie Summers
Tomorrow, Wednesday 29 March 2017, is the most significant day in the life of the United Kingdom this century and possibly even of the last forty years. Some go as far as to say it is the most...
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March Guest Post - Georgia Hunter, We Were the Lucky Ones
Georgia Hunter, photo credit: Andrea CarsonWhen Georgia Hunter was fifteen years old, she learned that she came from a family of Holocaust survivors. Here she speaks to Charlotte Wightwick about her...
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Cabinet of Curiosities by Charlotte Wightwick - Murano Glass
This January, I went to Venice for the first time. I have had a fascination with the city since I was a very young child and family friends returned with a Murano glass paperweight for my parents and a...
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March Competition
To win a copy of Georgia Hunter's novel We Were the Lucky Ones, answer the following question in the Comments section below. Then copy your answer to maryhoffman@maryhoffman.co.uk so that I can contact...
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April Fool's Day - Celia Rees
Today, I'm Mary Hoffman and that's no April Fool. We've swapped days for this month. My day is the 18th, the kind of day when nothing much ever happened, but 1st April is April Fools' or All Fools'...
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Denying the doldrums through history, food, and favourite cookbooks - by...
I’m having a bad day. Not a day when big things go wrong and the world is a walking disaster. Just one of the those days that don’t feel quite right. Normally, to fix bad days, I cook. I can’t do that...
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Naming by Debra Daley
I’ve only ever bestowed names on two actual human beings (my children), but as a fiction writer I am obliged to name hosts of characters – and sometimes it can be tricky. Historical fiction requires...
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Personal Names in Historical Fiction - Katherine Langrish
'Fair Rosamund' by John William WaterhouseHere, in the imagination of John Waterhouse, is the Fair Rosamund, leaning out of a rose-bedecked tower window, longing for her lover King Henry II while her...
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Spring by Joan Lennon
One of my sons is living in Indonesia now, and though he is very happy about it, there are a few things that he misses. (One is IrnBru, but we won't dwell on that.) In a country where lushness is a...
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Wild Irish Girls Sheena Wilkinson
I don’t remember where I picked up my copy of Angela Brazil’s The New Girl At St Chad’s. It’s a shabby 1920s reprint, falling to bits now. To Winifred from Mother it says in careful cursive on the...
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THE WITCHFINDER'S SISTER by Beth Underdown. An interview with the author by...
Some time ago, I downloaded this book to my Kindle because I'd read a favourable review of it in the Times. Full disclosure: I love books to do with witchcraft and I've written on this blog about just...
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'The Bishop of Butterflies' by Karen Maitland
King Arthur, 13th Century IllustrationRecently, I stumbled across a delightful legend recorded in the chronicles of Lanercost Priory, Cumberland written around 1216. It tells how Bishop Peter of...
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The Gem of Your Heart's Desire by Caroline Lawrence
One of my motives in writing historical fiction is to take the reader back in time. A powerful way of making that world seem real is to fill it with artefacts of the day. An ancient object can tell us...
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When Dr Seuss Went Wrong – Michelle Lovric
I don’t even want to imagine a childhood without The Cat in the Hat or Yertle the Turtle. I can still recite the first ten pages of The Sleep Book and all of Green Eggs and Ham. As far as I’m...
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Ten Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Branwell Brontë by Katherine...
Branwell Brontë, self portraitThis year marks the centenary of Branwell Brontë's birth. The Brontë Parsonage Museum is celebrating with a fantastic new exhibition dedicated to ‘the forgotten Brontë’,...
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