The Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) has great pleasure in revealing the 2025 Crown Awards shortlists, celebrating the best in historical writing, fiction and non-fiction, published during 2024–2025. There are three awards categories — HWA Gold Crown, HWA Non-fiction Crown, and HWA Debut Crown — and six shortlisted books in each category. The books shortlisted for […]
Spycraft by Nadine Akkerman and Pete Langman
Early modern Europe was a hotbed of espionage, where spies, spy-catchers, and conspirators pitted their wits against each other in deadly games of hide and seek. Theirs was a dangerous trade–only those who mastered the latest techniques would survive. This book explores the methods spies actually used in the period, including disguises, invisible inks, and […]
The Lion of the North by Griff Hosker
As the clash of swords and the cries of the fallen resound through the valleys of Germany, King Gustavus Adolphus stands poised to change the course of history. Fourteen years of devastation sparked by religious tensions have left a scarred land and the Swedish monarch gathers his loyal army for a final, decisive strike against […]
The Stolen Crown by Tracy Borman
In March, 1603, Queen Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, lies dying at Richmond Palace. The queen’s ministers cluster round her bedside, urging her to name her successor — something she has stubbornly resisted throughout her reign. Almost with her last breath she whispers that James VI of Scotland should succeed her. Or so we’ve […]
Daughter of the Tarot by Clare Marchant
1644: Portia is living in London, having escaped an abusive man in Italy, with just baby Vittoria and the clothes on their backs. Making her living reading tarot cards, she starts to realise there are other women like her – who need help. As she delivers the Devil card to their door, each has the […]
Historical books for summer reading, 2025
We asked five well-loved authors to each suggest a couple of books they recommend for history lovers to enjoy reading over the summer. Their choices include novels about the eve of the Roman Conquest and the eve of the Norman one; non-fiction about the long history of Black people in Britain and the island’s first […]
These Wicked Devices by Matthew Plampin
In Rome in 1650 the streets are teeming as thousands of pilgrims flood in for the Holy Jubilee. But behind the gilded facade of the Vatican, power is unravelling. Donna Olimpia Maidalchini has long kept Pope Innocent X under her thumb, but as loyalties shift, her enemies close in. And her most dangerous opponents may […]
Costanza by Rachel Blackmore
In the scorched city of Rome, in 1636, the cobbled streets hum with gossip and sin. Costanza Piccolomini is a respectable young wife — until she meets Gianlorenzo Bernini, the famed sculptor and star of Roman society, whose jet-black gaze matches his dark temper. From the second they set eyes upon each other, a fatal […]