A new year, and new historical books, both fiction and non-fiction, to look out for, written by HWA members. The Second World War continues to be popular, and there are refreshingly different takes on the Tudor era. The medieval period makes a strong showing. There are new additions to well-loved series and second books from some of 2019’s most acclaimed debut historical fiction authors. You can pre-order books using the links in the text.
January
The year begins with new historical fiction from Joanna Hickson. The Lady of the Ravens, the first in her Queens of the Tower series, is published on 9 January, 2020, and follows the lives of two women: Joan Vaux, a less-known character in Tudor history, and Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, wife of Henry VII. Read Joanna’s Historia feature about Joan.
The paperback edition of Laura Shepherd-Robinson‘s highly-praised Blood & Sugar comes out on the same day. Atmospheric and unflinching, it won the HWA Debut Crown Award. See Laura’s feature about the history behind her book.
Also on 9 January, Rachel Hore‘s The Love Child is out in paperback. In 1917, a young mother is forced to give up her child. When they meet again, years later, will their secret be revealed?
Catherine Hokin‘s The Fortunate Ones is a love story set during and in the aftermath of the Second World War. In Berlin, Felix meets Hannah, who then vanishes. The thought of her is all that sustains him in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. But then he sees the Nazi doctor’s wife… It’s published on 20 January. Catherine writes about the ‘hidden’ Nazis of Argentina for Historia.
Hitler’s Secret, the fourth in the Tom Wilde series by Rory Clements, has the professor-turned-spy searching for a new Nazi weapon behind enemy lines and is out on 23 January. Ten copies of this book are the prizes in Historia’s January giveaway.
The Man Behind the Tudors, Kirsten Claiden-Yardley‘s biography of Thomas Howard, second Duke of Norfolk, is published on 30 January. Kirsten’s feature about him will be in Historia soon.
February
The Foundling is the second novel by Stacey Halls. Bess Bright returns to the Foundling Hospital to reclaim her daughter – and finds the child has already been removed. Published on 6 February. Stacey’s feature about foundlings will appear in Historia that day.
On the same day, Anne O’Brien‘s A Tapestry of Treason comes out in paperback. Constance of York, Lady Despenser, plots to overthrow Henry IV. Should her family attempt to restore Richard II to the throne or promote the Mortimer claimant?
Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior is out in paperback on 11 February. Catherine Hanley‘s biography examines an extraordinary woman, the daughter, wife and mother of kings, who fought, but failed, to win the throne for herself.
March
Wolf of Wessex is Matthew Harffy‘s new book, set in the south-west of Britain in 838, which is published on 5 March, 2020. Accused of murder, Dunston must evade his enemies and clear his name. Matthew has written about the background to his fast-paced novel for Historia.
Elisabeth Gifford‘s The Lost Lights of St Kilda is published on the same day. The only thing that keeps Fred Lawson going when he escapes from a German prison camp is the thought of Chrissie, the woman he fell in love with during the last days of a remote Scottish island.
Also on 5 March, Summer of the Three Pagodas, Jean Moran’s sequel to Tears of the Dragon, is published. It’s 1950, and Rowena leaves Hong Kong for what she hopes is safety in Korea.
On Wilder Seas by Nikki Marmery tells the story of Maria, the enslaved woman who sails on Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe in the Golden Hind. Nikki’s feature about Maria will appear near the novel’s publication day, 16 March.
The Forbidden Promise, Lorna Cook‘s new story of love and secrets set in the Highlands in 1940 and the present day, is published on 19 March.
The Puritan Princess by Miranda Malins is the second book out on 19 March. When Oliver Cromwell is offered the crown, his daughter Frances becomes important, diplomatically – and dynastically. Miranda is writing a feature about the history behind her novel for Historia.
On the same day, Paul Fraser Collard‘s The Lost Outlaw (Jack Lark book 8) comes out in paperback. Former soldier Lark must guard a wagon train as it travels from Texas to Mexico.
April
Andrew Taylor‘s latest Restoration-era spy novel, The Last Protector, is published on 2 April. James Marwood and Cat Lovett must find out why Richard Cromwell has slipped back into England – even though it means risking their lives.
SW Perry‘s latest Jackdaw Mysteries book is also published on 2 April. In The Saracen’s Mark, Nicholas Shelby, reluctant spy and maverick physician, and his companion Bianca Merton are sent to Marrakech to find a missing informer.
And on the same day, The Silken Rose is out. The first in Carol McGrath‘s The Rose Trilogy, it tells the story of Alienor of Provence.
Maggie Craig‘s latest book, One Week in April: The Scottish Radical Rising of 1820, which sets the rising into the wider social and political context of the time, is published on 9 April. Her Historia feature about the movement will be in Historia just before then.
On 16 April, Linda Porter‘s new book, Mistresses: Sex and Scandal at the Court of Charles II, is published. It looks at the lives of the women in Charles’s life and the impact they had on both politics and culture.
Nicola Cornick‘s new novel, The Forgotten Sister, moves between the lives of Amy Robsart, the wife of Queen Elizabeth’s favourite, Robert Dudley, and present-day Lizzie Kingdom, whose life seems linked to Amy’s through a dangerous secret. It’s out on 30 April. And we have an interview with Nicola in Historia. She’s also agreed to write a feature about her book for Historia.
This month, historian Eric Lee‘s Night of the Bayonets : The Texel Uprising and Hitler’s Revenge, April – May 1945 is published. More details when they’re available.
May
CB (Catherine) Hanley‘s sixth Mediaeval Mystery novel, Cast the First Stone, is published on 1 May. It’s 1217, and Edwin Weaver is back home, expecting a peaceful life. But then the unpopular new bailiff is found murdered and Edwin must find the killer – or hang.
Carolyn Kirby‘s second novel, When We Fall, is out on 7 May. England, 1943, and Vee Katchatourian meets RAF airman Stefan Bergel. In Poland, Ewa Hartman mourns her lover, captured by the Soviets in 1939 – but meets him on the street. It’s Stefan. What secret is he hiding? Carolyn is writing a Historia feature about the terrible events central to her book.
Also on 7 May, A Ration Book Wedding, the latest in Jean Fullerton‘s Ration Book series set in the East End of London during the Second World War, is published.
Storm of Steel, the sixth book in Matthew Harffy‘s Bernicia Chronicles, comes out in paperback on the same day. Beobrand’s latest adventure plunges him into a world of piracy and slavery.
Giles Kristian‘s much-anticipated Camelot, published on 14 May, moves his retelling of Arthurian legends forward to Lancelot’s son, Galahad. The Saxons are gathering, the kings of Britain disunited. A young novice is plucked from his monastery to face his legacy – and his fate.
Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in 13th-century England by Sharon Bennett Connolly comes out on 30 May.
June
Laura Shepherd-Robinson‘s second novel, Daughters of Night, is out on 25 June. Caro, Harry Corsham’s wife (who we met briefly in Blood & Sugar), sets out to solve the murder of a high-class prostitute. Her search throws her into the rotten heart of Georgian society. (The publication date has now moved to 18 February, 2021.)
July
On 2 July, Fortress of Fury, the seventh in Matthew Harffy‘s Bernicia Chronicles, is published. Beobrand must defend Bebbaburg against the invading forces of Penda of Mercia.
August
In The Silver Collar, Antonia Hodgson‘s latest Thomas Hawkins mystery, Tom is forced into a confrontation with a psychopathic killer. It’s published on 6 August.
On the same day, Matthew Harffy‘s Wolf of Wessex (see 5 March) comes out in paperback.
Nicola Pryce‘s A Cornish Betrothal, the latest in her 18th-century family sagas set in Cornwall, will be published this month.
September
Anne Fletcher‘s From the Mill to Monte Carlo: The Working-Class Englishman Who Beat the Monaco Casino and Changed Gambling Forever, a biography of Yorkshire mill worker Joseph Hobson Jagger, comes out in paperback on 15 September. Anne is writing a Historia feature about this unusual man.
Jackie and Maria, the new novel by Gill Paul which follows two of the world’s most glamorous women, Jackie Kennedy and Maria Callas, as their lives become entangled, is published on 17 September.
Publication dates to be confirmed
Other books published this year, details to be confirmed: Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders by Nathen Amin; The Arbella Stuart Conspiracy by Alexandra Walsh; How to Survive in Ancient Rome by LJ Trafford; and Death At Philippi by Peter Tonkin.
Historia will feature all these books on or near their publication dates. You can pre-order them using the links in the text.
If you’re an HWA member with a book coming out in 2020 and you’d like Historia to cover it, email the editor, Frances Owen, at editor@historiamag.com with details.
