London, 1897,and Minnie Newton – 28-year-old schoolteacher and women’s rights advocate – has a passion for football. But in Victorian society, football is a men’s game. That is, until Minnie decides to take matters into her own hands and place an ad in the newspaper, asking for volunteers to join the first ever women’s football […]
Twice Shy by Sophia Holloway
After her heartbreaking first Season, Elizabeth Ashling resolved to avoid London Society – and matrimony – completely. However, family obligations mean that Elizabeth is thrust back into society where she faces an overzealous poet, a bitter rival and, most awkwardly, the man who jilted her three years before. Sir Lucius Radstock, dry, dashing and as […]
The Mysterious Poisoning of Charles Bravo by Angela Buckley
In April 1876, Charles Bravo, a young London barrister, died in agony at his Balham home after ingesting a lethal dose of antimony. His death shocked Victorian society and set in motion one of the most baffling and sensational investigations of the 19th century. Despite two lengthy inquests, the question of who poisoned Charles Bravo […]
Agatha Christie and the unsolved murder of Charles Bravo
Which unsolved murder fascinated Agatha Christie so much that she decided to investigate it herself? Angela Buckley writes about the 1876 poisoning of Charles Bravo, also known as the Balham Mystery, still unsolved after 150 years. In Agatha Christie’s Ordeal by Innocence, while Dr MacMaster is trying to prove the wrongful conviction of Jack Argyle […]
Mrs Dickens by Emily Howes
London in 1835, and 19-year-old Kate Hogarth falls in love with the young journalist Charles Dickens. In the early days of their marriage, Charles is infatuated with his bride and Kate delights in her new life, the balm to her husband’s irrepressible spirit. But as he finds fame as a novelist and the family rise […]
A Fatal Choice by Alison Baxter
Julia Pennefather has spent her life longing for the security of a home and family. Ellen Fugill knows the price of loyalty in a world where servants are expected to see everything and say nothing. And talented Ada Ashley arrives concealing a secret past that makes her painfully vulnerable. When disaster strikes, the women do […]
Secrets and lies in family history
Alison Baxter writes about the tragedy in her own family history that inspired her first novel, A Fatal Choice. Her research uncovered a puzzling story of secrets and lies. She could have written it as non-fiction, but fiction gave her the opportunity to explore the inner lives of the women involved. I came late to […]
Sherlock Holmes and the Aeronauts by Linda Stratmann
The death in 1879 of a young mathematician, Aubrey Soames, appears to be accidental, but Sherlock Holmes suspects a cleverly planned murder may have taken place. The son of Sir Finlay Soames, a senior official at the War Office, Aubrey was helping the intrepid aeronaut Lord Callender to design a dirigible balloon. Adventure magazine is […]