Hitler’s Secret, the latest Tom Wilde Second World War thriller from Rory Clements, has a daring ‘what-if’ premise, as fellow WWII author Jason Hewitt finds out. For novelists, finding a fresh, exciting take on World War II is by no means easy. It is a period strewn with the footprints of many thousands of writers […]
Historia interview: Catherine Hanley
Dr Catherine Hanley is a historian who started her career as an academic before deciding that there were better and more fun ways to engage with public interest in all things medieval. She now writes about the Middle Ages for a wider audience under her own name, historical fiction as CB Hanley, and more non-fiction […]
Tokens of love: the moving objects left by mothers at the Foundling Hospital
Stacey Halls, author of The Familiars, writes for Historia about the inspiration behind her latest book, The Foundling: tokens left by mothers to help identify the babies they gave up at the Foundling Hospital in London. Some are beautiful, some simple, but all are poignant reminders of desperation and loss. A pink silk purse. A […]
How much should I explain? And how?
Dear Dr Darwin, As a reader of historical fiction I want to be in a place which may resonate in my world, but is not my world. That’s not only about politics and clothes, and how the people think and feel and believe, but in how they talk and write, and what they talk and […]
Thomas Howard, the man behind the Tudors
Thomas Howard, a minor East Anglian landowner’s son, survived the Wars of the Roses and the reigns of six kings to become Duke of Norfolk and, arguably, one of the most influential figures of the early Tudor period. Yet his achievements have been largely forgotten 500 years after his death. His biographer, Kirsten Claiden-Yardley, aims […]
Review: 1917
With its immersive cinematic techniques, the film 1917 conveys the relentless horror of war in a manner that is “profoundly moving”, author Elizabeth Fremantle tells Historia. Sam Mendes’s film 1917, inspired by the stories told by his grandfather of fighting in the First World War, has divided both critics and viewers. Some have deemed it […]
TV review: The Windermere Children
The Windermere Children (BBC 2, 27 January, 2020) follows the true story of a group of children, recently freed from concentration camps who, in 1945, were brought to Windermere for four months of rehabilitation under the auspices of child psychologist Oscar Friedmann (Thomas Kretschmann) and philanthropist Leonard Montefiore (Tim McInnerny). Made to be transmitted on […]
Historia giveaway: Hitler’s Secret by Rory Clements
Historia’s giveaway for January 2020 is ten copies of Hitler’s Secret by Rory Clements. Entries open at noon on 23 January, the day Hitler’s Secret is published. The last day you can enter is 1 February. Ten different entrants will each receive one copy. Follow the instructions below to enter. You’ve got up to four chances to win and […]