1461. Through blood and battle Edward of York has gained England’s throne – king by right and conquest – 18 years old and unstoppable. Cecily Neville has piloted his rise to power and stands at his shoulder now, the first to claim the title King’s Mother. But to win a throne is not to keep […]
A Good Deliverance by Toby Clements
Warwick in 1468. One drowsy summer afternoon, Sir Thomas Malory — politician, courtier, outlaw, renowned author of Le Morte D’Arthur — is seized from his garden and dragged to Newgate Prison for reasons unknown. Shivering in his foul-smelling, filthy old cell, Malory mourns his misspent life as he awaits the execution bell. But when the […]
The Knight’s Tale by Griff Hosker
Sir Michael of Weedon might think that his service to the crown ended when the Queen died and he was no longer required as her knight. He is wrong, for his qualities as a true and loyal warrior mean that he can be trusted. King Henry and the Earl of Suffolk send him to France […]
The Lost Prince by Ethan Bale
Are they saving a prince, or unchaining a monster? December, 1476. The infamous Vlad the Impaler – Dracula – is reported killed in a Turkish ambush. The brutal scourge of the Ottomans is no more… November, 1485. Nine years later, mysterious Hungarian noblewoman Maria Hunyadi lays a quest at the feet of Sir John Hawker, […]
The real Dracula: monster by nature – or nurture?
Dracula. Vlad the Impaler. Otherwise known as Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia. Ethan Bale, whose latest novel, The Lost Prince, features the historical figure, examines the man behind the legend and asks: was he a monster by nature? By nurture? Or both? Just a few weeks ago, King Charles undertook his annual pilgrimage to Transylvania, […]
The Night of the Wolf by Cassandra Clark
Chester, 1400. Riding for his life, with a copy of Chaucer’s heretical Canterbury Tales in his possession, friar-sleuth Brother Chandler is ambushed on the road and wakes up in a stranger’s house. Is his ‘rescuer’, wool merchant John Willoughby, friend… or foe? Willoughby declares that he, like Chandler, has renounced the self-crowned King Henry IV […]
A Marriage of Fortune by Anne O’Brien
England in 1469. A fortunate marriage will change history. A scandal could destroy everything… Margaret Paston, matriarch of the Paston family, knows that a favourable match for one of her unruly daughters is the only way to survive the loss of their recently acquired Caister Castle. But as the War of the Roses rages on, […]
The delicate matter of mustard and candles: a Paston family scandal
Anne O’Brien tells the story of Margery Paston, a member of the famous Norfolk letter-writing family, and the scandal she caused when she fell in love with their bailiff, a man from a family who sold mustard and candles. It’s the background to her new novel, A Marriage of Fortune. Clement Paston, who died in […]