1370: Oswald de Lacy was not always Lord of the Manor, or even meant to be. The third son, he was sent off to become a novice monk. Now, with winter closing in on Somershill, his wife flirting with their houseguest, his sister sniping from the sidelines and his mother still ruling his life even […]
Review: The Dragon Lady by Louisa Treger
Author SD Sykes reviews The Dragon Lady, the latest novel by Louisa Treger, and finds it a “beautifully written, absorbing book”. I love novels that find a little-known thread of history, and then pull it out to give us a new and unexpected insight into the past. This is exactly what Louisa Treger has achieved […]
The Bone Fire by SD Sykes
1361. Plague has returned to England – thirteen years after the devastation of The Black Death. As destruction advances towards his estate in Kent, Oswald de Lacy leads his family to the safety of a remote castle in the marshes – where his friend Godfrey is preparing a fortress to survive the coming disaster. The […]
Historia’s books of the year for 2019
Whether you prefer reading historical fiction or non-fiction (or both, why not?), we hope you’ll find something to surprise, delight or intrigue you in this round-up of books featured in Historia during 2019. So if you’re looking for a Christmas present for a history lover or a good read for the long winter nights, have […]
Transubstantiation. And why it matters (honestly. It does)
Author SD Sykes tells Historia how researching a 14th-century dispute over church doctrine started her on the path that led to her latest Oswald de Lacy novel, The Bone Fire. When my son started his senior education in 2008 at a Catholic school, we dutifully attended the first family mass as part of our introduction […]
Review: The Bone Fire by SD Sykes
It’s a nerve-wracking thing, a series, warns Catherine Hokin. The author commits to a character, the reader buys in; everyone steels themselves against the nightmare moment when a shark will appear and be thoroughly jumped. Well, fear not, Oswald de Lacy fans, this is a shark-free zone: SD Sykes’s latest outing for her medieval crime-solver […]
The Bone Fire by SD Sykes
It’s 1361. Plague has returned to England – thirteen years after the devastation of the Black Death. As destruction advances towards his estate in Kent, Oswald de Lacy leads his family to the safety of a remote castle in the marshes – where his friend Godfrey is preparing a fortress to survive the coming disaster. […]