H for History Blog

‘Write something,’ they said. ‘Tell us what fascinates you about the Tower of Babel.’   I didn’t much care for the way they were fingering the electrodes at the time so, as always, I made […]

Maundy Thursday in Sweden was thought to be the day when witches stole brooms and livestock and used them to fly through the night sky to the legendary island of Blåkulla where the Devil held […]

Publishing 1st April, The Deception of Harriet Fleet is an atmospheric Victorian chiller set in brooding County Durham. In this exclusive blog post for H for History, author Helen Scarlett shares with us how the […]

Gretchen Berg highlights a moment in her novel which stunned America in 1938…   1938   Little Charlotte was sleeping in her crib in the bedroom while Edward and Vivian listened to The Chase and […]

Katharine Parr was so more than the wife who ‘survived’. A passionate woman, unusually well educated for her time, she was ardent reformer and the author of three books – the first woman in England […]

Prologue Berlin, 19 December 1939   The Christmas party had not long begun when Gerda Korzeny and her escort arrived at half past eight that evening. The snow was deep and they kicked the ice […]

With publication of the sixth book in her Six Tudor Queens series in 2021, Alison Weir introduces Henry’s last wife, Katharine Parr.   Of Henry VIII’s six wives, Katharine Parr was so much more than […]

The Communist’s Daughter is the story of Katia, a young woman has grown up amongst the ruins of the once mighty Berlin, now shattered by Allied bombs. In their tiny, freezing flat, Katia’s father teaches […]

When writing this book, I was unable to use most of the vast amount of research I did on Katheryn Howard’s fall because it was written entirely from her viewpoint and she was kept very […]

Prologue THE BRISTOL CHANNEL JANUARY 1606   The old man, sitting, sucking on his pipe on the quayside, was first to see it, or rather he did not see it. And that was what puzzled […]

  We can’t wait for the return of Private Investigator Flavia Albia in Lindsey Davis’ gripping and witty new murder mystery set in Ancient Rome, A Comedy of Terrors. Read on for a sneak-peek extract […]

The notorious Lady Rochford was born Jane Parker, the daughter of learned Henry Parker, Lord Morley; her mother, Alice St John, was a distant cousin of King Henry VIII on his grandmother Margaret Beaufort’s side. […]