Historical fiction offers more than just entertainment. It brings the past alive for modern readers. Writers can question what we know, speculate, explore new perspectives and redress absences in the historical record. Paul Burke explains. Historical fiction can be fun, a light entertainment, as with any … Continue Reading
Features
Why one author changed the genre she writes in
What makes an author change the kind of books they write? Even when they're well known and successful for the genre they're writing in? Lizzie … Continue Reading
Historical books for summer reading, 2026
Historical fiction and history books to read during Summer 2026. We asked 10 much-loved authors to each suggest a couple of books for history … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
Interviews
Historia interview: Claire Hobson
On 29 May, Oak Apple Day, it'll be 396 years from Charles II's birth in 1630 and 366 since his restoration. To mark the occasion, Historia spoke to Claire Hobson, whose biography marks those 30 turbulent years that … Continue Reading
Historia interview: Carolyn O’Brien
Carolyn O’Brien’s new novel Rose & Renzo is set in 1930s Manchester and is deeply entwined with the radical politics of the time, the backdrop to a passionate coming-of-age story. Carolyn O’Brien talks to fellow … Continue Reading
Reviews
Review: Wuthering Heights – the film – and Catherine by Essie Fox
February, 2026 has given us the full Bronte with two retellings of Wuthering Heights. Kate Griffin, the author of several Gothic novels and lover of films set in the Victorian era, is the ideal person to review both … Continue Reading
Review: Samurai at the British Museum
Lesley Downer, author of The Shortest History of Japan, visits the Samurai exhibition at the British Museum and discovers that it's "an exhibition of treasures" which show that the samurai were patrons of the arts … Continue Reading