Flora Johnston reveals how a shabby old gown led her to uncover the stories of two women from 17th-century Scotland – and to give them back their voices through her first novel. What is the role of historical fiction in giving a voice to the women who lived before us? When it comes to revealing […]
The death of honour: duelling’s last hurrah
The slap of the glove, the demand for satisfaction, pistols at dawn; duelling is a familiar ritual to anyone who has read historical writing set in Europe from the Early Modern period onward. The duel as a gentlemanly way to settle matters of honour survived many attempts to suppress it over the centuries; but what […]
A surprising gap in Second World War fiction
When Liz MacRae Shaw was researching her third novel, Had We Never Loved So Blindly, a love story set during the Second World War, she thought the background to her story would be well-covered in historical fiction. But, she tells Historia, she was in for a surprise. The Second World War is such a popular […]
Crusader by Ben Kane: exclusive extract for Historia
Ben Kane‘s Crusader, the second book in his Lionheart series, takes the newly-crowned Richard I and his companion Ferdia through intrigue, siege, and conquest to the Holy Land – where Saladin is waiting. Our exclusive extract for Historia comes from the beginning of the book. Ferdia, nicknamed Rufus, is racked with guilt after killing Henry, […]
Remembering Culloden
The battle of Culloden was fought 275 years ago, on 16 April, 1746. While the date of the battle may not be as well known as 1066 or 1314, the battlefield itself, just outside Inverness, is an important tourist destination. Apart from this year’s being a major anniversary, Frances Owen asks, why and how should Culloden […]
Catherine of Braganza, the neglected Queen
“One of the greatest and most illustrious princesses in the world.” If contemporaries thought highly of Catherine of Braganza, why has history been so condescending to Charles II’s queen? Linda Porter believes it is high time the Merry Monarch’s Portuguese wife was given her due. Catherine of Braganza is one of our most overlooked queens, […]
People-smuggling in Tudor and Jacobean times
The Drowned City, the first in KJ Maitland’s Daniel Pursglove series of historical crime novels, is set in Bristol in 1606 – a year after the Gunpowder Plot – where a Jesuit conspirator is said to be hiding. KJ Maitland tells Historia how religious conflict caused an increase in people-smuggling in Tudor and Jacobean England. […]
Angelica Kauffman, artist and pioneer
This month’s guest post is by the novelist Miranda Miller, who writes about the subject of her latest book, the artist Angelica Kauffman. Angelica, Paintress of Minds was published in summer 2020, when the Royal Academy was to show a major exhibition of the artist’s works; but this, like other public events, was cancelled. Miranda […]