Juliet West is the author of Before the Fall and The Faithful; the latter has been picked as a top summer read in Prima, Red and Good Housekeeping magazines and is out in paperback on 26 July 2018. What is your earliest memory? Helping my little brother to walk down the stairs. I might have […]
Historia Interviews: Barbara Erskine
When Barbara Erskine’s debut Lady of Hay was published in 1986, it became an instant hit and went on to sell over three million copies worldwide. Thirty years on, Barbara’s novels have appeared in at least twenty-six languages, and continue to top the bestseller lists. This summer sees the publication of a new novel, Sleeper’s […]
Curating History
Earlier this year I visited a fascinating exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Treasured Possessions was a history of items that our forebears – rich and poor – kept in their homes or close to their bodies. Put more simply, it was a history of ‘stuff’, and it was brilliantly done. From tableware to […]
Juliet West watches Testament of Youth
Determined, ambitious and highly intelligent, Vera Brittain was a disappointment to her parents. Alarmed by her bookishness and desire to study at Oxford, their tactic was to buy her a grand piano in the hope that this would persuade her to behave like a proper young lady and become, eventually, somebody’s wife. The arrival of […]
Picture This
Dressed in their Sunday best, straight-backed and solemn-faced, the family in the photograph appears the epitome of working class respectability. Taken around 1913, the picture shows Annie Baker, her husband Arthur and their daughter Florence. There is a look of calm innocence in their eyes, and perhaps this is why I have always found the […]