Susan Ronald’s new biography of Joseph P Kennedy covers his time as US Ambassador to Great Britain; a time which, as she tells Historia, his son Jack’s own political views and diplomatic skills – very different from his father’s – were formed. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, known as Jack to family and friends, was never meant […]
The Long Journey Home by Cecily Blench
It’s 1941 and Kate is living in Rangoon, Burma, a world away from her traditional English upbringing. When she meets Edwin, a young teacher from London, she senses that he too is looking for a place to call home, and soon a friendship develops between them. As their bond grows, Kate begins to learn of […]
The wartime diary that led to my first novel
Cecily Blench’s grandmother didn’t think her stories of being a nurse in wartime Burma and India were unusual, but her granddaughter found them memorable. And when Cecily read her grandma’s 1944 diary she found more inspiration to begin her first novel, the prizewinning The Long Journey Home, which is published on 10 June. My grandmother, […]
The Secretary by Catherine Hokin: exclusive extract for Historia
The Secretary, Catherine Hokin’s fourth Second World War-inspired novel, is a dual-timeline story set in the Third Reich Berlin of the 1940s and the Stasi-controlled eastern side of the city in the 1980s. Our exclusive extract is the prologue, which introduces us to Magda, one of the two main protagonists, and the Tower House – […]
A Ration Book Daughter by Jean Fullerton
Cathy was a happy, blushing bride when Britain went to war with Germany three years ago. But her youthful dreams were crushed by her violent husband Stanley’s involvement with the fascist blackshirts, and even when he’s conscripted to fight she knows it’s only a brief respite. Divorce is not an option. Cathy, a true Brogan […]
Had We Never Loved So Blindly by Liz MacRae Shaw
In 1937, fisherman’s son, John Norman’s first encounter of Felicity MacDougall, the daughter of a retired tea planter, is prickly at best. But a chance meeting during a London air raid leads to a tentative romance, which becomes long distance when John joins the Navy and Felicity takes a job at the infamous, secretive Bletchley […]
A surprising gap in Second World War fiction
When Liz MacRae Shaw was researching her third novel, Had We Never Loved So Blindly, a love story set during the Second World War, she thought the background to her story would be well-covered in historical fiction. But, she tells Historia, she was in for a surprise. The Second World War is such a popular […]
The Girl from the Island by Lorna Cook
1940: When the island of Guernsey is invaded by the Nazis, two sisters are determined to rebel in any way they can. But when forced to take in a German soldier, they are shocked to find a familiar face on their doorstep – a childhood friend who has now become their enemy. 2016: Two generations later, Lucy returns to Guernsey after […]