H for History Posts

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. […]

In late 2018, shortly before the publication of The Gown, my son came to me with a question. He’d been studying the Second World War, and with it the Holocaust, in history class at school. As […]

  A Tomb With A View is available now in hardback, ebook, and audio.

Henry VIII always kept the feast of Christmas with ‘much nobleness and open court’. It was incumbent upon kings to dispense hospitality throughout the twelve days of the festival, and in Henry’s reign more than a thousand […]

  ‘The most calamitous event ever to afflict the royal family of England.’   25th November 1120-2020   There have been many anni horribili in the annals of the English monarchy, but none that inflicted […]

  The Gobelins Manufactory or the Manufacture Royale des Meubles de la Couronne, to give its official title, is the setting for my new novel, A Fine Tapestry of Murder. Founded by Louis XIV in […]