H for History Posts
THE MOST WOEFUL THING by Alison Weir
As Katheryn Howard: The Tainted Queen is written wholly from Katheryn’s point of view, the reader never gets to see the reaction of Katheryn’s husband, Henry VIII, to her fall from grace. We see only […]
Read MoreInspiration for Writing the She-Wolf Queen Trilogy – Carol McGrath
During the English High Middle Ages of the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there was a succession of foreign queen consorts. Some were honoured as the mothers of kings; others were also mothers of kings, […]
Read MoreA Rake’s Progress: Thomas Hawkins’ story so far by Antonia Hodgson
Ahead of the publication of The Silver Collar, bestselling creator of the Thomas Hawkins novels Antonia Hodgson updates us all on her antihero’s story so far… The Silver Collar is the fourth book in the […]
Read MoreMichelle Rawlins introduces The Women of Steel
I’ve always been fascinated by social history and listening to stories about how the past has impacted different individual lives and those of future generations. I guess doing a history degree, followed by a […]
Read MoreWHO WAS MARGARET DOUGLAS, THE LOST TUDOR PRINCESS?
Royal Tudor blood ran in her veins. Her mother was a queen, and she herself was the granddaughter, niece, cousin and grandmother of monarchs. Some thought she should be queen of England. Beautiful and tempestuous, […]
Read MoreExtract from Code Name Hélène – inspired by a true story
Hélène BENSON MILITARY AIRFIELD, ENGLAND February 29th, 1944 I have gone by many names. Some of them are real— I was given four at birth alone— but most are carefully constructed personas to […]
Read MoreEleni Kyriacou reveals the family inspiration for her debut novel She Came To Stay.
Every family has a story to tell, and I always knew that the roots of my tale were embedded in the 1950s. This was when my parents came to the UK from Cyprus. […]
Read MoreDon’t Go to the Grove: Lindsey Davis on the inspiration behind The Grove of the Caesars
The Grove of the Caesars, was intended to explore gardens – a regular haunt of serial killers of course! I pay attention to both, but I prefer an oblique approach, if only to […]
Read MoreA Q & A with Maggie O’Farrell to introduce HAMNET
What originally inspired you to write Hamnet? When I was studying ‘Hamlet’ at school, my teacher mentioned in passing that Shakespeare had a son called Hamnet, who died several years before the play was written. […]
Read MoreIs the Covid 19 pandemic a modern-day Black Death?
The short answer is no. Not at all. And yet, when reading some newspaper articles in the last few days, I’ve seen this crisis described as a modern day plague, with all sorts of […]
Read MoreFinished The Mirror and the Light? Read on to delve deeper…
Many historical fiction fans in their thousands have this month been reading The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel, the final book in her remarkable recreation of the life of Thomas Cromwell that, in […]
Read MoreAn extract from Gretchen Berg’s THE OPERATOR
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 […]
Read More