In 1597 when Beatrice’s husband returns to London from exploring the New World, he comes home with unexpected company: a mysterious woman, and an enormous painted globe.
As Hugh refuses to explain who their female guest is, Beatrice’s foreboding grows. The unwieldy globe now strikes her as sinister – a reminder of the world of secrets pervading her household.
Then one night, the great, hulking globe begins to turn of its own accord. Terrifying new illustrations appear on its face – and when untimely deaths ensue, Beatrice is convinced that the drawings are connected.
Desperate to prove that she is not paranoid, Beatrice risks everything to uncover the truth.
What sinister force is behind these killings? What really happened on Hugh’s excursion to the Americas? Who is the strange woman who won’t leave her house? And on this otherworldly map of murders, who will be painted as the final victim?
The Darkening Globe by Naomi Kelsey is published on 10 April, 2025.
Naomi won the HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition in 2021 with His Mother’s Quilt. It might inspire you to enter this year’s competition, which is open until 1 July, 2025. Find out more on the HWA website.
There’s much more historical fiction in Historia’s round-up of over 160 books published this year.
