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 […]
A Ration Book Daughter by Jean Fullerton
Cathy was a happy, blushing bride when Britain went to war with Germany three years ago. But her youthful dreams were crushed by her violent husband Stanley’s involvement with the fascist blackshirts, and even when he’s conscripted to fight she knows it’s only a brief respite. Divorce is not an option. Cathy, a true Brogan […]
Legion by Geraint Jones
AD6: The greatest army assembled in a generation prepares to march. But not Legionary Corvus. He and half his legion are to be left behind to garrison the province of Pannonia: a wild place where the mountains are as deadly as any foe. Corvus despairs as he watches his closest friend Marcus march to war, […]
Had We Never Loved So Blindly by Liz MacRae Shaw
In 1937, fisherman’s son, John Norman’s first encounter of Felicity MacDougall, the daughter of a retired tea planter, is prickly at best. But a chance meeting during a London air raid leads to a tentative romance, which becomes long distance when John joins the Navy and Felicity takes a job at the infamous, secretive Bletchley […]
The Royal Secret by Andrew Taylor
Two young girls plot a murder by witchcraft. Soon afterwards a government clerk dies painfully in mysterious circumstances. His colleague James Marwood is asked to investigate – but the task brings unexpected dangers. Meanwhile, architect Cat Hakesby is working for a merchant who lives on Slaughter Street, where the air smells of blood and a […]
Crusader by Ben Kane
It’s 1189, and Richard the Lionheart’s long-awaited goal comes true as he is crowned King of England. Setting his own kingdom in order, he prepares to embark on a gruelling crusade to reclaim Jerusalem. With him on every step of the journey is Ferdia, his loyal Irish follower. Together they travel from southern France to […]
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, […]