The longlist for the Dorothy Dunnett Society/Historical Writers’ Association Short Story Competition 2019.
A life of war in Anglo-Saxon Britain
The skeleton of an unknown 7th-century warrior buried near Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland seemed to have nothing to tell historian and novelist Edoardo Albert… until tests showed a link to a Scottish holy island and the original returning king: Oswald of Northumbria. The bones were silent. That’s the problem: they usually are. They are the […]
Henrietta Maria: queen, warrior, politician, woman
Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, died 350 years ago in 1669. It’s time to reconsider this strong-willed queen, argues historian Leanda de Lisle.
Review: The Museum of Broken Promises by Elizabeth Buchan
Elizabeth Buchan’s new novel, The Museum of Broken Promises, is a keenly observant exploration of secrets and loss set in 1980s Prague and Paris in the present day. Catherine Hokin finds it “complex and both haunting and haunted”.
HWA Crown Awards 2019: the shortlists
The 18 books shortlisted for HWA Crown Awards in 2019 have been announced. The search is now on to find the winners in the three awards categories: Gold Crown, Sharpe Books Non-fiction Crown and Debut Crown. The shortlisted books are: HWA Gold Crown Award 2019 Little by Edward Carey (Aardvark Bureau) In Little, Edward Carey brings the […]
Don’t mention the war!
What is it about the Second World War that fascinates us, seemingly endlessly? Historian Keith Lowe looks at the lasting legacy of the war and the myths and misconceptions that cluster around it
Review: The Hidden by Mary Chamberlain
Mary Chamberlain’s latest novel is The Hidden, which focuses on the German occupation of the Channel Islands during the Second World War. Duncan Barrett reviews her “taut and troubling” book. In 2016, I spent three months in the Channel Islands, interviewing more than a hundred men and women who lived through the German Occupation during […]
Review: Sanditon
Does Sanditon, the new ITV Sunday evening serial, succeed as a drama? Historian of the Regency period Naomi Clifford reviews it for Historia.