Tom Williams’s Burke series of novels set during the Napoleonic Wars takes the spy James Burke across continents as he pursues adventure, love – and the French. But when it came to sending his character, a historical figure born in Ireland, back to his native land, Tom found himself asking: why write about Irish history? […]
The Year Without Summer – fact, fiction and the climate crisis today
Author Guinevere Glasfurd tells Historia how a local news story showed her the way to write her sweeping climate change novel, The Year Without Summer, which was shortlisted for the HWA Gold Crown Award in 2020. Up until a couple of years ago, the impacts of climate change often seemed abstract, forever far away; set […]
The Year Without Summer by Guinevere Glasfurd
1815, Sumbawa Island, Indonesia. Mount Tambora explodes in a cataclysmic eruption, killing thousands. Sent to investigate, ship surgeon Henry Hogg can barely believe his eyes. Once a paradise, the island is now solid ash, the surrounding sea turned to stone. But worse is yet to come: as the ash cloud rises and covers the sun, […]
The Figure in the Photograph by Kevin Sullivan
Juan Camarón and his father travel across Cuba in the summer of 1898, photographing the island and its people as the war between Spain and the United States escalates. But tragedy strikes when Juan’s father is killed, and his last photos reveal a sinister truth to his final moments. Travelling to Scotland, where he has […]
The Art of the Assassin by Kevin Sullivan
1899, Glasgow. A man is stabbed to death in a tenement courtyard, and Juan Camarón, photographer-cum-sleuth, is enlisted to assist the police investigation. Perhaps his innovative photographic method can bring to light what the eye may have overlooked. Yet Juan has problems of his own. His late father s legacy, a monumental photographic record of […]
The Mystery of the Hawke Sapphires by JC Briggs
London, 1851. On his deathbed, the sinister Sir Gerald Hawke asks a distant cousin, Reverend Meredith Case, to find Sapphire, his long-lost ward and heir to the Hawke family jewels. Concerned for her welfare, Meredith vows to discover where Sapphire disappeared to. Meanwhile, Felix Gresham, a young man with literary ambitions, is found murdered on […]
Historia interviews, 2020 Crown Awards shortlists: John Larison
John Larison is the author of Whiskey When We’re Dry, a remarkable novel which, with its compelling voice, challenges the traditional values of the Western and which is shortlisted for the HWA Gold Crown Award. This is the fourth in Historia’s series of interviews with writers shortlisted for the 2020 Crown Awards. Congratulations on being […]
Historia interviews, 2020 Crown Awards shortlists: Elizabeth Macneal
Elizabeth Macneal’s acclaimed first novel, The Doll Factory, is shortlisted for the HWA Debut Crown Award for 2020. Historia talks to her in the third in our series of interviews with historical writers shortlisted for HWA Crown awards. The HWA Debut Crown celebrates new voices in historical fiction. Have you always been interested in history? […]