It is the early days of the French Revolution and, on the streets of Paris, terror reigns. Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand is a young woman with an extraordinary power — through her tarot cards, she can commune with the dead, revolutionaries and the aristocracy alike seeking her out to divine their fortunes. Lenormand is loyal […]
The King of Montréal by Daniela Norris
It’s 1800 when Louis-Charles, only 15 years old, arrives in Montréal. Known to everyone as Charles, he has escaped France aboard the ill-fated packet ship Freedom. Rescued by Basque fishermen, Charles is taken to the port of Montréal and left there to fend for himself as he bears the heavy secret of his true identity… […]
History as “a possession for all time”
History, by looking clearly at the past, can help to prepare for the future. This was proposed by the Greek historian Thucydides and expanded in the Renaissance by Machiavelli, whose analysis of power structures can be seen to apply again and again, argues Michael Arnheim, making history relevant “for all time”. Thucydides (c460 – c400 […]
Are we the bad guys? Writing naval historical fiction from the French point of view
Mention the ‘classic age’ of naval historical fiction and most people immediately think of the ‘age of Nelson’, Horatio Hornblower, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. The gallant British Navy, hearts of oak and the Battle of Trafalgar. But there are two sides to every story, as JD Davies writes, and his new series takes the […]