Young Nancy Ratcliffe is on the run. Her father had sought refuge for his family with the Brethren, led by the charismatic but dangerous Prophet. But now her father is gravely ill, and even the sooty streets of Victorian London hold less terror for Nancy than the brutality of Brethren Hall. Meanwhile, Spider is biding […]
Top ten films set in the Victorian era
Kate Griffin admits that films have influenced the world of her Victorian melodramas. On the publication of the fourth book in her Kitty Peck series, she offers a viewing top ten. One Christmas towards the end of the 1970s I made a teenage stand against the tyranny of spending Boxing Day evening with my parents’ […]
Review: Peaky Blinders, Season 4, Episode 1
‘We’re going back … back to Small Heath,’ says a blood-spattered Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy), in the opening episode of Peaky Blinders, Season 4. ‘Back where you belong,’ replies Johnny Dogs (Packy Lee) – he knows, as do we, that Tommy can’t escape his roots. Season 3 of Peaky Blinders was about Tommy’s attempt to […]
Vikings Season 4: Episode 17, The Great Army
The underlying theme of this week’s episode of Vikings appears to be ‘Vengeance and the Alpha Male’. The women are around, to be sure, but in this episode they are mere ciphers – items to be acquired (Margrethe and Tanaruz), threatened (Lagertha), vilified (Judith) or put to whatever use the men see fit (Astrid in […]