In September, 1905, Captain Roberts has returned to England, feeling uncertain of his future after the exploits of Fort Farafra. Recently married and on the cusp of fatherhood, he hopes to revert to a career with the regular army. Instead, his life takes a perilous turn when he is assigned as a bodyguard to a […]
Evil in High Places by Rory Clements
In 1936 all eyes are on Munich for the upcoming Olympic Games. As athletes fight for gold and the Nazis fight for power, Detective Sebastian Wolff faces a battle of his own. A famous actress has disappeared and Wolff has been ordered to find her, fast. But Elena Lang is no ordinary film-star: she is […]
Operation Berlin by Michael Ridpath
in 1930 historian Archie Laverick, scarred mentally and physically by the Great War, travels to Berlin to research a famed Prussian general. His quiet study is shattered when he crosses paths with Esme Carmichael, a spirited young American intent on making her name as a foreign correspondent. When a shooting at a Saxon castle leaves […]
Woodspring by Elizabeth Buchan
Since the house was built in 1810, the Danes have lived in the elegant, light-filled rooms of Woodspring, and walked in the fields and woods that surround the house. Over the years, and through the changing seasons, it has brought shelter, solace and joy. But now it’s 1940 and Europe is on the brink of […]
Elizabeth and Marilyn by Julie Owen Moylan
London, October, 1956. A glittering Royal Film Premiere. The whole world is watching. Tonight, Elizabeth II will formally greet an array of stars. Though she was not born to be Queen, this young mother and wife has embraced her patriotic duty and its unforgiving demands. A limousine pulls up. Out steps a vision in dazzling […]
The Library of War and Peace by Louise Morrish
Josie Everley may have survived the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, but she lost the man she loves most to the sea. Broken-hearted and destitute, Josie must start afresh as a library assistant at a ground-breaking, all-female-run military hospital in Endell Street. As she focuses on her work, she never expected to meet Theo, a […]
Can books save lives?
A pioneering library was set up at Endell Street Military Hospital during the First World War. There, the women who ran the hospital used reading as therapy for the damaged soldiers. Louise Morrish writes about the library, which inspired her latest novel, and asks: can books save lives? If we could step back in time, […]
Historian or novelist? Writing fiction based on facts
Is the historical fiction author a historian or novelist? Julie Owen Moylan considers her own experience of writing a novel based on the known facts about two iconic women in the 1950s. Writing about real people is a challenging enterprise for both novelist and historian. How can we best sum up a life of many […]