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Tall Ships and taller tales
by Antonia SeniorWhen I was twenty-five, brave and picked in nautical fiction, I set out from Barbados to crew a tall ship across the Caribbean Sea. I did not know it then, but the experience would...
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'CRINGING' HISTORICAL NOVELISTS: Elizabeth Fremantle on Mantel at the Oxford...
There has been a ruffling of feathers amongst the authors of historical fiction since Claire Armistead's piece in The Guardian suggested that Hilary Mantel, speaking at The Oxford Literary Festival,...
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Pioneers: The First Japanese in Britain by Lesley Downer
Behind the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm in North London there’s a quiet street called Provost Road with at the far end St Saviour’s Church where today they must be celebrating Good Friday. Ever since I...
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Facing the Future as Someone Else: A History of Face Transplants by Fay Bound...
Faces matter. They tell the world who we are and where we come from. They reveal our individuality, our genetics, emotions and ethnicity. But faces are also 'matter,' a composite of tissues, muscles...
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Norah Lindsay, society gardener: by Sue Purkiss
The National Trust is wonderful on many counts. It's saved hundreds of stately homes, little homes, pieces of countryside, stretches of coastline and more for the nation (that means for us, all of us);...
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Parks and Gardens by Penny Dolan
In my junior historical novel, set in Victorian times, the young hero arrives alone in Victorian London. Needing a safe space for the night, he considers climbing over the railings into one of the...
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Book of the Book - Celia Rees
Every time I plan a new book, one of the first things I do, once the idea has gelled, once I know it will be a book, is to buy the Book of the Book. The one above is the Book of the book I'm writing...
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Bath's Secret Leper Hospital by Katherine Webb
I've recently been finding out as much as I can about the Holloway and Beechen Cliff areas of Southern Bath, to use as a setting in my next novel. It's a fascinating part of the city, though much...
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After the Black Death
“It is June 1349. In the Hampshire village of Meonbridge, the worst plague in England’s history has wiped out half its population…”So goes the blurb for my historical novel Fortune’s Wheel.“Meonbridge”...
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William Sykes - Connoisseur or Forger? by Imogen Robertson
Daily Post (London, England), Tuesday, January 12, 1725On December 31st 1724 Mr. William Sykes died in Bruges. He was a painter and picture dealer, a member of the Virtuosi of St Luke’s, an exclusive...
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Through a Glass Darkly: Mirrors, Myths and Magic by Catherine Hokin
I am a bit obsessed with mirrors at the moment. That's not an unusual state for many women as we oscillate between avoiding or checking our appearance depending on how hopeful/fearful we are feeling on...
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sourdough; slices from history, by Leslie Wilson
The starter, bubblingIt was only about two years ago that I realised how widespread the use of sourdough was, and also how recent is the practise of using brewer's yeast to raise bread. And if that...
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TURNING ON THE LIGHTS : How I write a historical novel by Elizabeth Chadwick.
It's that time again. Having completed my latest project and handed it in, I am turning my attention to the next contracted novel. I have known for a while that it is going to be about Aoife...
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Mary Anning by Miranda Miller
Just before Easter I spent two very enjoyable days in Lyme Regis, on the Jurassic Coast , a World Heritage Site that stretches from Exmouth to Studland Bay. The layers of sedimentary rock along that...
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Liberty, I Write Your Name, Carol Drinkwater
Recently, when I was in Paris, I visited the Bon Marché store, which is a regular haunt of mine. I usually head directly to the top floor where they have a very excellent librarie/bookshop. I love to...
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Cowslips or Concrete in Cowley? by Janie Hampton
Cowley Marsh Park, near Oxford, April 2017At the bottom of my road is Cowley Marsh Park. It’s not a lovely park, it’s a ‘rec’, or recreational ground. There are no tended flower beds and the trees are...
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Odette by Julie Summers
There are very few characters from the Second World War who are known by their first names but Odette is one of them. Probably the most famous female Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent to survive...
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Her own worst Enemy: Caroline of Brunswick (1768-1821) by Charlotte Betts
Our April guest s Charlotte Betts:Photo credit: James GreedCharlotte Betts is a multi-award-winning author of six historical novels with a dash of adventure and romance. A daydreamer and a bookworm,...
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To win a copy of Charlotte Betts' The Dressmaker's Secret, answer the following question in the Comments below: "Can you think of any other historical character whose downfall was the result of their...
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