history

  To mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and international Holocaust Memorial Day, we are sharing this extraordinary message from Edith Friedman Grossman, one of the survivors whose story is told in […]

If you are, like us, hooked by the recent third series of The Crown (definitely NOT on our third re-watch, definitely not), then you’ll also want to know more about the history behind the events […]

This year for Halloween, we have made a list of six thrilling reads: from wildly fascinating stories of witches around the world to bloody revolutions under the reign of Richard II to odd, unexplained mysteries. […]

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 […]

Victoria and Albert’s famous marriage began with a spectacular royal wedding, just like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle earlier this year. We enjoyed the familiar carriage ride along the streets, the big white dress, the […]

Theatre of the World reignites our curiosity with the world both ancient and modern. It is beautifully illustrated and rich in detail. Before you could just scroll Google Maps, maps were being constructed from the ideas and […]

CONSTANTINOPLE 1453: THE GREATEST SIEGE IN HISTORY – JAMES HENEAGE There have been longer sieges, there have been ones involving bigger armies and worse slaughter, but none have been so dramatic and consequential as the […]

My most recent novel, TESTAMENT, contains five chapters of historical fiction – a prologue set at the time of the Phoenicians in the 6th century BC, two chapters set during the British Abyssinia campaign of […]

I am often asked about the extent to which I use real historical characters in my fiction. Because I write historical crime, I don’t feel I can use real characters as the victims or perpetrators […]

For me no trip to Brighton is complete without a poke around Snoopers’ Paradise, the rambling antique emporium in the North Laine. I was rifling through a box of old photographs there when I noticed […]

What struck me the most when reading this book was the incredible sense of time and place Mazzola creates, and how vividly she paints a picture of grim 1830s London. We meet Sarah Gale, the […]

This year marks the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, one of the best known events in British history. On 14 October 1066, English and Norman armies clashed at the site now occupied by […]