Was CS Lewis a misogynist? Many people think he was, often based on what’s called the ‘Susan problem’ in The Last Battle. But while researching her debut novel, a mystery based on his life in Oxford in the 1940s, Maureen Paton found plenty of evidence to show that he was not; in fact, he challenged […]
Edwin Landseer’s vanished paintings and lost love
Did the Victorian artist Edwin Landseer have an affair with Georgina, Duchess of Bedford? Was his lost love the reason for his deteriorating mental health? And how is that question linked to a vanished painting of deer in a Highland run? Lucy Waverley writes about researching her debut novel. On my honeymoon, I read about […]
The dark legacy of the Spanish Civil War
The legacy of the Spanish Civil War is still felt in Spain today, 90 years after it began. A culture of deliberate forgetting has meant that some of the darker truths about what happened are still covered up, as Catherine Hokin explains. My latest novel, The Man She Had to Save, takes place during the […]
What is historical fiction for?
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 genre. There is nothing wrong with that; but I […]
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 Lane, best known for her saga series, explains why she took a jump into the unknown with a new book set 2,000 years earlier, during the time of the Roman […]
Under cover for Britain: two female WWII agents, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade and Barbara Bertram
Marie-Madeleine Fourcade led a French intelligence network supplying information to MI6. Barbara Bertram ran a secret safe house for agents in Surrey. They met several times. Here, Rachel Hore writes about how the two women sparked the idea for her new novel, and the challenges of writing fiction about real people. My new novel, The […]
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 lovers to enjoy over the summer. They’ve offered an intriguing mix of historical books, new and old, ranging from the 6th century BC to the recent past, and spanning the world […]
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 poisoning of Charles Bravo, also known as the Balham Mystery, still unsolved after 150 years. In Agatha Christie’s Ordeal by Innocence, while Dr MacMaster is trying to prove the wrongful conviction of Jack Argyle […]