Even now, Dora Maar is probably remembered for being Picasso’s lover and the subject of many of his paintings rather than as the innovative artist she was. Louisa Treger, whose latest novel retells her story, explains why Dora was much more than a muse. For years, the epithet ‘Picasso’s Weeping Woman’ has followed every mention […]
Barbara Villiers, beautiful, powerful… ravenous?
Barbara Villers, Countess of Castlemaine and later Duchess of Cleveland, was one of the most beautiful women of the Restoration period and probably Charles II’s most politically powerful mistress. She had a great appetite for wealth, influence, and handsome men, as Andrea Zuvich, author of Barbara’s biography, Ravenous, explains. The Stuarts, who ruled over Scotland, […]
Review: Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World by Mary Beard
The historian Michael Arnheim reviews Mary Beard’s Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World, which has just been published as a paperback. “What was it really like to rule and be ruled in the Ancient Roman world?” That is how Professor Mary Beard describes her book. In fact, it is a not particularly subtle […]
The Nazi plan to seize Gibraltar
When Graham Hurley found out about Operation Felix, the Nazi plan to seize Gibraltar, it sparked the idea behind his new book, Dead Ground. He tells Historia how his research unearthed other surprising facts which knitted together to provide a compelling plot. Confession time. Eight books into the Spoils of War collection, I’d never heard […]
The Moot at Monzie: international friendship in the shadow of the Second World War
To mark this week’s 85th anniversary of the 1939 International Rover Scout Moot at Monzie, Rob McInroy, whose latest novel is set against this huge gathering, looks back on a celebration of worldwide friendship just weeks before the Second World War broke out — causing many of these young men to end up fighting on […]
Women and the Crusades
Women played a significant role in the Crusades, whether as pilgrims, or supporting the army or, on occasion, as Queens Regnant of Jerusalem, Carol McGrath writes. And, although Richard I’s role in the conflict is well known, few people are aware of the roles of his sister Joanna, or his wife, Berengaria. The Crusades were […]
Mothers in war: Cecily Neville and her royal rivals
Annie Garthwaite’s second novel, The King’s Mother, picks up the story of Cecily Neville to follow the purposeful power plays of four rival royal mothers during the 15th-century Wars of the Roses. Here she reflects on their careers – and on her own determination to bring their stories to the fore. Shortly after the publication […]
The lost cities of Berlin
Berlin is a city Catherine Hokin knows well. It’s the setting for many of her novels. But it’s a city that’s always changing, even though it’s soaked through with history, and there have been many Berlins, some only imagined. Here, Catherine goes in search of the lost cities of Berlin. When I first developed the […]