London, 1608, and three years after the Gunpowder Treason, the King’s enemies prepare to strike again. Daniel Pursglove is tasked by royal command with one final mission: he must infiltrate the Serpents — a secret group of Catholics plotting to kill the King — or risk his own execution. But other conspirators are circling, men […]
The Fugitive’s Sword by Eleanor Swift-Hook
Autumn 1624, and Europe is deeply embroiled in what will become the Thirty Years’ War. A young Philip Lord, once favoured at King James’s court, has vanished without a trace, under the shadow of treason. Outside the besieged city of Breda, Captain Matthew Rider faces the brutal reality of wintering his cavalry in the siege […]
The Moers Murders by Graham Brack
1688, The Netherlands, and Master Mercurius has just settled back into his life as a lecturer at the University of Leiden when he is once again summoned by the Stadhouder, William of Orange. A message from William is never good news, but he is not a man you can say no to. So Mercurius finds […]
Japan’s court ladies, warrior women and courtesans
Lesley Downer, the author of The Shortest History of Japan, looks at different roles taken by women during that country’s long history: court ladies, warrior women and courtesans. She shows how, through the ages, they have found ways to use their skills to make their voices heard. Court ladies More than a thousand years ago, […]
Costanza by Rachel Blackmore
Rome in 1636, and 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 attraction is born. Their secret love burns with a passion that consumes […]
Ravenous: A Life of Barbara Villiers by Andrea Zuvich
Barbara Villiers was a woman so beautiful, so magnetic and so sexually attractive that she captured the hearts of many in Stuart-era Britain. Her beauty is legendary: she became the muse of artists such as Peter Lely, the inspiration of writers such as John Dryden and the lover of John Churchill, the future great military […]
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, […]
A Poisoner’s Tale by Cathryn Kemp
Rome in 1656, and in the shadowy backstreets of the Eternal City lies an apothecary’s shop – a place for women to take their heartbreaks and troubles. Herbs for childbirth. Tarot readings to tell their fortunes. An undetectable poison that can kill in four drops. Alongside her circle of female poisoners, Giulia Tofana dispenses her […]