Fiona Veitch Smith travels to Weimar Berlin in 1930, using her antique Baedeker guidebook, and finds that the nearly 100-year-old book can still help her find the places she’s researching in the 2020s. In previous articles for Historia I outlined how I use vintage fashion and vintage guide books as research for my neo-Golden Age […]
The Berlin Murders by Fiona Veitch Smith
In September, 1930, fearless detective Miss Clara Vale is bound for Berlin, but this trip is all about la mode, not murder. Clara is set to walk the runway at Berlin Fashion Week, as a favour to her designer friend Juju, with her assistant Bella in tow. Elections loom in Germany, and among Juju’s friends, […]
Annie’s Day by Apple Gidley
As a young Australian Army nurse, Annie endures the brutalities of World War II in Singapore and New Guinea. Later, seeking peace, she takes refuge in Berlin — only to find herself caught in the upheaval of the Blockade. Through it all, the death of a man she barely knew leaves a wound that refuses […]
Circus of Mirrors by Julie Owen Moylan
It’s Berlin in 1926. After the death of their parents, sisters Leni and Annette only have each other. Desperate, but dreaming of better days, Leni finds work at a notorious cabaret: the Babylon Circus. From the dancer’s barely-there costumes, to the glimmering mirrors that cover the walls, the Babylon Circus is where reality and fantasy […]
The lost cities of Berlin
Berlin is a city Catherine Hokin knows well. It’s the setting for many of her novels. But it’s a city that’s always changing, even though it’s soaked through with history, and there have been many Berlins, some only imagined. Here, Catherine goes in search of the lost cities of Berlin. When I first developed the […]
The Secret Hotel in Berlin by Catherine Hokin
In Berlin in 1944, Lili Rodenberg and her husband Marius run the Edel, Berlin’s most glamorous hotel. For its wealthy guests, it is an escape from the destruction outside, with its elegant piano bar and fine amber brandy. But Lili is Jewish, a secret she is terrified will end in tragedy for her and their […]
The German Child by Catherine Hokin
Berlin, 1944. ‘No! Not my child!’ Annaliese screams, her voice breaking as she pounds the window uselessly. But no-one looks up as the man in the SS uniform cradles her precious baby and strides away… She lies unmoving on the threadbare cot, her throat hoarse from long hours of screaming but her tears keep falling. […]
Christmas reading 2022 – our pick of top historical books
We asked nine well-loved authors to each recommend two historical books for Christmas 2022 to give, receive, or treat yourself with. These include many of the most absorbing books, fiction and non-fiction, published recently. We hope these suggestions inspire you. DV Bishop The Clockwork Girl by Anna Mazzola. A winter’s tale full of mystery and […]