H for History Posts

Of about two dozen female artists working in the sixteenth century, Susanna Horenbout is one of the least known. In fact, no work can be attributed to her with confidence. Nevertheless, she is accounted as […]

In my first days at the BBC, more than thirty years ago, the struggle between Her Majesty’s Government and a frail pensioner down under was at the top of the running order nearly every night. […]

Posted on: 09/09/2019   In Autumn 1991 the fifteen republics that had together constituted the Soviet Union, also known as the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, broke out of the union to become independent states, […]

Until last week, I would have stated firmly that there were no portraits of any of Henry VIII’s wives as young teenagers. But, wandering around the Basilika of St Lambertus in Dusseldorf (the former capital […]

Bandoleros – it’s one of those beautifully evocative words that conjures up a hundred images all by itself. When I started planning for THE LOST OUTLAW – the eighth Jack Lark novel set in Mexico […]

It is AD 25. Pirate ships strike terror in the hearts of those who brave the seas of the Roman Empire. When Telemachus joins the crew of the merchant ship Selene, he’s glad to escape the […]

The case of the Central Park Five is being revisited with a new acclaimed Netflix limited series on the subject, When They See Us, directed by Ava DuVernay. About the book: This is the only book that […]

A Night Out in the Badlands, 1941 Throughout the 1930s Shanghai had been a legendary city – an international metropolis where no visas or passports were required; the most modern city in Asia drenched in […]

This January marked the centenary of the outbreak of the Irish War of Independence. One hundred years ago the Irish formed a government, and declared independence from British rule. That declaration led to war. My […]

Discover the first six books in Julian Stockwin’s seafaring historical adventure series set during the Great Age of Sail, now reissued with a brilliant new cover look. Based on dramatic real events, the Thomas Kydd […]

THE UNQUIET HEART is a richly atmospheric and gripping medical mystery, the second installment in the thrilling Sarah Gilchrist series which began with THE WAGES OF SIN.   The grey stone archway loomed overhead as […]

Smoky the Brave is the extraordinary, touching and true story of a heroic dog and her adoptive masters in the jungles of the Pacific War. It’s out in hardback on 11th July and available to […]