Medieval women's family lives varied widely, as did the work they carried out daily. Rank in society was a factor, as was whether they lived in a town or the country, but the most important influence on their lives was their position in a family, the historian Catherine Hanley explains. Family was the … Continue Reading
Features
Discovering Shanghai’s International Settlement
Shanghai, the 'Pearl of the Orient', was invaded by Japanese troops in 1941. The comfortable lives of the Westerners living in the city's … Continue Reading
Can books save lives?
A pioneering library was set up at Endell Street Military Hospital during the First World War. There, the women who ran the hospital used reading … Continue Reading
Historian or novelist? Writing fiction based on facts
Is the historical fiction author a historian or novelist? Julie Owen Moylan considers her own experience of writing a novel based on the known … Continue Reading
Turning Welsh history into fiction: the Mynydd Epynt clearances
The Mynydd Epynt clearances of 1940, when a Welsh mountain community was evicted to make way for a military training ground, inspired Luisa A … Continue Reading
Interviews
Historia interview: David Gilman
David Gilman's new novel, Rage of Swords, is the latest in his Master of War series and sees Thomas Blackstone in action in Italy. David tells Historia about the ideas and research behind his book, as well as … Continue Reading
Historia interview: Carolyn Kirby
Carolyn Kirby, award-winning author of When We Fall and The Conviction Of Cora Burns. talks to AD Bergin about her new novel, Ravenglass. A sweeping adventure with a cross-dressing main character, Kit, it's set … Continue Reading
Reviews
Review: Wuthering Heights – the film – and Catherine by Essie Fox
February, 2026 has given us the full Bronte with two retellings of Wuthering Heights. Kate Griffin, the author of several Gothic novels and lover of films set in the Victorian era, is the ideal person to review both … Continue Reading
Review: Samurai at the British Museum
Lesley Downer, author of The Shortest History of Japan, visits the Samurai exhibition at the British Museum and discovers that it's "an exhibition of treasures" which show that the samurai were patrons of the arts … Continue Reading