The Salvation Army has come prancing and singing from the slums of London to the poorest quarters of Oxford, but along with its red-hot gospel preaching and music hall songs it brings a prohibition message which sparks immediate opposition and violence. An Army soldier – an ex-drunk – is brutally killed and a note suggests […]
The Skeleton Army by Alis Hawkins
The Salvation Army has come prancing and singing from the slums of London to the poorest quarters of Oxford, but along with its red hot gospel preaching and music hall songs it brings a prohibition message which sparks immediate opposition and violence. An Army soldier – an ex-drunk – is brutally killed and a note […]
Christmas reading 2023 – historical books to give or ask for
We asked 13 well-loved authors to each recommend a couple of historical books for Christmas 2023 to give, receive, or treat yourself with. There’s fiction and non-fiction, most published recently, with a few old favourites as well. We hope these suggestions help to inspire your Christmas reading. Tracy Borman Henry VIII: The Heart and the […]
A Bitter Remedy by Alis Hawkins
Jesus College, Oxford, 1881. An undergraduate is found dead at his lodgings and the medical examination reveals some shocking findings. When the young man’s guardian blames the college for his death and threatens a scandal, Basil Rice, a Jesus College fellow with a secret to hide, is forced to act and finds himself drawn into […]
A Bitter Remedy by Alis Hawkins
Jesus College, Oxford, 1881. An undergraduate is found dead at his lodgings and the medical examination reveals some shocking findings. When the young man’s guardian blames the college for his death and threatens a scandal, Basil Rice, a Jesus college fellow with a secret to hide, is forced to act and finds himself drawn into […]
Review: The Lost Man of Bombay by Vaseem Khan
In the latest in the Malabar House series, Vaseem Khan gives us a brilliant insight into Europeans’ involvement in post-partition India, as well as a cracking good mystery, Alis Hawkins writes. On one level, The Lost Man of Bombay can be seen as a straightforward serial killer story; on another it’s a glimpse into a […]
Review: The Bookseller of Inverness by SG MacLean
Having spent the best part of a decade in London with her brilliant CWA dagger-winning creation, Damian Seeker, SG MacLean is very firmly back in her Scottish wheelhouse with The Bookseller of Inverness, says Alis Hawkins. This is a book about the power of an idea. It’s about the revival of a man left hollowed […]
The wizards of west Wales
In 19th-century Wales, when medical cures were hit-or-miss, people were just as likely to go to one of the cunning folk as to a qualified doctor. Alis Hawkins, whose new book, Not One Of Us, features one such astrologer and healer, writes about the real wizards of west Wales. One of the reasons I love […]