Blog
The Last Roundhead – the power of the written word in the 17th century
The Seventeenth Century was highly literate and the printing press really was a contemporary information superhighway. Jemahl Evans I'm delighted to welcome Jemahl Evans as my guest today. Jemahl is a fellow enthusiast of the era of the English Civil Wars and its...
5 Great WWII Historicals for Young Adults
World War II stories may hold a special appeal because this was a conflict that young people got swept up in — as refugees, Resistance fighters and youth soldiers — as dire circumstances forced them to behave like adults So says Kristin Hannah, best-selling...
Cabinet of Curio-stories – Miniature Scottish Coffins
In 1836, five young Scottish boys were out hunting for rabbits on the slopes of Arthur’s Seat, a hill in the centre of Edinburgh. After chasing a rabbit into a small cave, they saw something jammed into a crevice in the crag. It was the first of no less than seventeen...
Historical Fiction: Virtue no 5 – The Absence of Media
Depending on which era you are writing in, you will find that less media existed, than does now. First there was the voice, then writing, then printing, then the telephone, then computing and finally - Lord help us - the internet. Instant messaging means...
Cabinet of Curio-stories – the Lost Ruskin Daguerrotypes
I have just visited Brantwood, the Lakeland bolt-hole of Victorian giant of arts and literature, John Ruskin. Whilst I was there, I came upon this fascinating story. When Ruskin died in 1900, he was largely-forgotten figure, having suffered from bouts of mental...
Writing a Historical Fiction Trilogy for Teens
Lady of the Highway, the third book in my highway series for teens (and adults!) has just been released by Endeavour Press, so I thought I'd share with you some of the highs and lows of writing a historical fiction trilogy, and in particular a teen trilogy. There are...
Cabinet of Curio-stories – stunning secret behind a Tudor painting
Imagine that you are an art dealer in Swinging Sixties London - 1962 to be precise. You manage to buy a bargain -- an atmospheric early oil painting of the Tower of Babel, and intrigued, you decide to look on the back to see if you can find out more about this...
Historical Fiction – Virtue no 4 – old crafts and writing
One of the virtues about writing historical novels is that it can give you an insight into crafts of the past. In her article in the Historical Novels Review, Tracy Chevalier talks about her willingness to learn these skills hands-on when she is researching her books....
Historical Fiction – 1930’s Egypt and 1950’s Malaya
Kate Furnivall's Shadow on the Nile is a rip-roaring adventure full of the dry dust of Egypt. From the beginning, we are drawn into Jessie's world as she searches for her missing brothers - the one who was taken as a child, and the one who is missing in Egypt. Her...
Cabinet of Curio-stories – Birth and Death, A Renaissance Gimmel Ring
This 'gimmel' ring was made in Germany in 1631. This type of ring has multiple circlets that fit like puzzle pieces. The word 'gimmel' comes from the Latin word gemelli, meaning twins, and often signified two connected eternity rings denoting a couple's permanent...
Historical Fiction – 7 Virtues. No 3 – The Past Does Not Exist
This might seem like a rather existentialist title, especially as in one sense we a brought to look at the past every time we read a newspaper or trawl online for yesterday's sports scores. But in this article on a new theory of time, Jonathan O Callaghan says that...
Historical Fiction : Recommended reads set in the Spanish Civil War & Colonial India
Andalusia 1938 During the Spanish Civil War, Professor Pinzon and his young grandson are taken hostage by Republican soldiers and imprisoned in an old church. The church is built upon an even more ancient Moorish site, and so begins a dual narrative, set in medieval...
Lady Anne Clifford – travelling 17thC style, with 40 carts
You can't live in the Westmorland area and not know anything about Lady Anne Clifford. In the 17th century she travelled around her vast Northern estates accompanied by more than forty carts which contained everything she needed to make herself comfortable at her...
Cabinet of Curio-stories – An Elizabethan Hair Pin
Silver bodkins for your hair, bobs that maidens love to wear The Pedlar's Song, from 'The Triumphant Widow' 1677 I love looking at what people have found under our feet by metal detecting or digging in their garden. The past is buried so close to the surface! Here's...
Historical Fiction – Virtue no 2 The Non-Fiction Novel
The 'non-fiction novel' was a phrase originally used by Truman Capote in 1966 to describe his book 'In Cold Blood - A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences.' Since then, true crimes have been fictionalised with much success, books such as 'The...