“It’s fiction, but there has to be a grounding in truth.” Chris Lloyd, author of the Eddie Giral novels set in Paris in 1940, considers the delights — and the dilemmas — of using real people as characters in historical fiction. One of the biggest dilemmas I feel that historical fiction writers face is whether […]
The Memory Keeper by Corin Burnside
1940. Having grown up surrounded by nature, Bella Gardner loves nothing more than getting her hands dirty. When war breaks out, she immediately signs up for the Air Transport Auxiliary, frustrated she can’t play a more active role, yet keen to do something for the war effort. But when her brother is involved in a […]
The window-smashing suffragettes of 1912
Jennifer Godfrey writes about some of the suffragettes involved in the window smashing campaign in 1912, and the careful planning that went into their latest mission. In June and July 1912, 112 years ago, suffragette prisoners were being released from prison having served time for window smashing. Some had completed their full sentence but others […]
Historia giveaway: Banquet of Beggars by Chris Lloyd
Historia is giving away copies of Banquet of Beggars by Chris Lloyd, the third in his Eddie Giral World War Two noir series! Five winners will each get a copy of Chris’s dark and atmospheric novel, set in Occupied Paris in 1940, as well as two exclusive extras: a special Parisian bookmark and a model […]
10 Scotland Street by Leslie Hills
10 Scotland Street – the story of an Edinburgh home and its cast of booksellers, silk merchants, sailors, preachers, politicians, its stories of cholera and coincidence and its widespread connections over two centuries across the globe. 10 Scotland Street by Leslie Hills is published in paperback on 6 August, 2024. Read Leslie’s feature about how […]
Dora Maar: much more than a muse
Even now, Dora Maar is probably remembered for being Picasso’s lover and the subject of many of his paintings rather than as the innovative artist she was. Louisa Treger, whose latest novel retells her story, explains why Dora was much more than a muse. For years, the epithet ‘Picasso’s Weeping Woman’ has followed every mention […]
If I Can Save One Child by Amanda Lees
Young linguist Elisabeth has been working for the British secret service since the war began, rescuing downed pilots and Jewish refugees. Now, in 1942, the Gestapo are on her trail: her next mission must be her last. Or she may never see the white cliffs of Dover again. But she can’t even think about abandoning […]
The Bomber and the Weathervane by Tony Aston
In 2009 Helen and John bought an old metal weathervane, fashioned in the shape of a Lancaster bomber, and placed it on the roof of their house where it remained for the following nine years. Only when it was removed as part of them packing to relocate in 2021 was a small inscription noticed on […]