Eagle-stones, holy girdles, cheese and cake and a coral rattle: all were meant to aid childbirth and keep the newborn baby safe. Quaint superstitions to us, perhaps, but sensible approaches when facing the danger of giving birth, Martine Bailey, author of The Prophet, argues. “When a woman conceived she was launched on a roaring wave […]
Did time run slower in the old days? My year living by almanack time
Forget all those lists of predictions for 2019. What you need is an almanack full of useful information, whether it’s when there will be full moons, the future of international affairs in a cryptic picture, or the answer to last year’s riddle. Martine Bailey, author of historical crime mystery The Almanack, spent a year living by […]
Writing at the Ends of the Earth
I am guessing that most of us historical writers would love to travel back in time (well, for a brief glimpse at least). Perhaps the closest we’ll ever get is to travel to a less culturally frantic part of the globe. ‘We are about to land in New Zealand. Please turn your watches back fifty […]
A Plea Not to be Forgotten
This copper penny was created by a British convict sentenced to transportation to ‘the ends of the earth’, as Australia was described in the eighteenth century. It’s motto reads, ‘When On this Peice you Cast an Eye, THINK ON THE MAN THAT is NOT NIGH’. On its reverse are the initials of an unknown convict, […]