Lesley Downer is a novelist and journalist who has written numerous books, both fiction and non-fiction, about Japan and Asia. She is the author of The Shogun Quartet, four novels telling the stories of four different women who are caught up in the cataclysmic events when the shogunate collapsed and Japan leapt into the modern western […]
Historia Q&A: Sara Sheridan
Sara Sheridan is an Edinburgh-based novelist who writes cosy crime noir mysteries set in 1950s Brighton and historical novels based on the real-life stories of late Georgian and early Victorian explorers. She has also written for children. In 2016 she founded the brand REEK. perfume, with signature scent, Damn Rebel Bitches, inspired by the Jacobite women of history. It has […]
Historia Q&A: Clare Mulley
Clare Mulley is the award-winning author of three biographies: The Woman Who Saved the Children, The Spy Who Loved and her latest, The Women Who Flew For Hitler. She writes and reviews for publications such as The Spectator, The Telegraph and History Today, is a busy public speaker and chair of judges for the Historical Writers’ Association 2017 non-fiction prize. What […]
Historia Interviews: Juliet West and Vanessa Lafaye
Juliet West and Vanessa Lafaye discuss the dark political backdrops to their new novels, The Faithful and At First Light. Both books are love stories which explore ‘inconvenient history’: episodes which have slipped from the collective consciousness because they expose uncomfortable truths about society. Vanessa: We both decided to dramatise events which have been shoved […]
Historia Interviews: Kaite Welsh
Kaite Welsh is an author, critic, journalist and activist. Her excellent debut novel, The Wages of Sin, set in the dark underworld of Victorian Edinburgh, is published by Tinder Press on 1 June. Here she discusses with fellow Victorianista Anna Mazzola her love of history, feminism, mob-caps and buttered crumpets. Your protagonist, Sarah Gilchrist, is […]
Historia Q&A: Matthew Harffy
Matthew Harffy is the author of The Bernicia Chronicles. His latest novel, Killer of Kings, is published on 1st June. What is your earliest memory? I think my earliest memory is playing with some toy soldiers and cannon that fired ball bearings. They were Christmas presents and I must have been about four or five. What is […]
Historia Interviews: Ben Fergusson
Ben Fergusson won the Betty Trask Prize and the HWA Debut Crown Award in 2015 with The Spring of Kasper Meier. His new book, The Other Hoffman Sister, has just hit the shelves. Jason Hewitt caught up with Ben to find out more. Hi Ben. I loved The Other Hoffman Sister – as you know – but […]
Historia Q&A: Rebecca Mascull
Rebecca Mascull is the author of The Visitors and Song of the Sea Maid. She has works in education, has a Masters in Writing and lives by the sea in the east of England. Her new novel, The Wild Air, is out on 4th May. What is your earliest memory? I remember having a dream about […]