After the fall of France, the occupying Nazi regime began to bleed the country dry through blatant financial exploitation. Parisians found even the most basic foodstuffs hard to get, largely because of the activities of the notorious bureaux d’achats. Chris Lloyd, author of Paris Requiem, explains what happened. “Ils nous prennent tout.” As Parisians queued […]
Agent in the Shadows by Alex Gerlis
It’s June, 1943. In Lyon, the capital of the French resistance, a secret meeting is held under orders from General de Gaulle. The objective is to unite all resistance factions. The future of France is on the line. But when the meeting is raided by the Gestapo under Klaus Barbie, the ‘Butcher of Lyon’, the […]
Forest of Foes by Matthew Harffy
AD 652. Beobrand has been ordered to lead a group of pilgrims to the holy city of Rome. Chief among them is Wilfrid, a novice of the church with some surprisingly important connections. Taking only Cynan and some of his best men, Beobrand hopes to make the journey through Frankia quickly and return to Northumbria […]
From slave to queen: an extraordinary medieval woman
Among the powerful medieval women whose stories have — against all odds — survived the years, Balthild, the seventh-century Neustrian queen, is one of the most extraordinary. A slave who became a queen and, later, a saint, she was an unexpected source of inspiration for Matthew Harffy’s latest Bernician Chronicles story, Forest of Foes. The […]
The French Resistance: shadier than you think
Chris Lloyd, author of the HWA Gold Crown Award-winning The Unwanted Dead, talks about his fascination with the German occupation of France and the concepts of resistance and collaboration; topics in which, he says, “the grey areas become shadier” the deeper you look. His novel was selected as Waterstones Welsh Book of the Month for […]
The personal and the political in the Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, when both England and France were ruled by personal monarchy, the king’s (and they were all kings) personality, preferences and relationships had a significant influence on political decisions, as the historian Catherine Hanley shows in her new book, Two Houses, Two Kingdoms. In January of the year 1200, a woman in […]
Two Houses, Two Kingdoms by Catherine Hanley
The 12th and 31th centuries were a time of personal monarchy, when the close friendship or petty feuding between kings and queens could determine the course of history. The Capetians of France and the Angevins of England waged war, made peace, and intermarried. The lands under the control of the English king once reached to […]
Privilege by Guinevere Glasfurd
In 18th-century France, Enlightenment is at odds with the absolute power of the King, who is determined to suppress opposition on pain of death. Delphine Vimond flees to Paris after being cast out from her home in Rouen when her father is disgraced. Into her life tumbles Chancery Smith, apprentice printer from London, sent to […]