Richard Foreman is the founder of Sharpe Books, sponsors of the 2018 Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown award, and is a best-selling historical novelist. He has also been a consultant and publicist to numerous HWA authors and was the co-founder of Endeavour Press and the London History Festival. Richard talks to Historia about historical fiction, […]
War of the Wolf by Bernard Cornwell
At the fortress of the eagles, three kings will fight… Uhtred of Bebbanburg has won back his ancestral home but, threatened from all sides by enemies both old and new, he doesn’t have long to enjoy the victory. In Mercia, rebellion is in the air as King Edward tries to seize control. In Wessex, rival […]
A House Of Ghosts by WC Ryan
Winter 1917. As the First World War enters its most brutal phase, back home in England, everyone is seeking answers to the darkness that has seeped into their lives. At Blackwater Abbey, on an island off the Devon coast, Lord Highmount has arranged a spiritualist gathering to contact his two sons who were lost in […]
What counts as historical fiction?
Our resident agony aunt, Dr Darwin, answers a common question: what counts as historical fiction? Dear Dr Darwin, I told my grandmother that I was writing a historical novel set in the Liverpool of the early Beatles, and she laughed so hard she nearly fell off her motorbike. I told my brother the Beatles weren’t […]
The Corset by Laura Purcell
Dorothea and Ruth. Prison visitor and prisoner. Powerful and powerless. Dorothea Truelove is young, wealthy and beautiful. Ruth Butterham is young, poor and awaiting trial for murder. When Dorothea’s charitable work leads her to Oakgate Prison, she is delighted with the chance to explore her fascination with phrenology and test her hypothesis that the shape of […]
Blood’s Game by Angus Donald
London, Winter 1670. Holcroft Blood has entered the employ of the Duke of Buckingham, one of the most powerful men in the kingdom after the King. It is here that his education really begins. With a gift for numbers and decoding ciphers, Holcroft soon proves invaluable to the Duke, but when he’s pushed into a […]
Twisting the Tale: should historical fiction stick to the facts?
Author Chris Bishop discusses why writers of historical fiction don’t always adhere solely to the ‘facts’ – and why they sometimes shouldn’t. As a writer of historical fiction, I am frequently asked whether my work is based solely on fact. My stock answer is that I am a writer not a historian and, as such, […]
2018 HWA Crowns: the shortlists
The Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) is delighted to announce the shortlisted books for the 2018 Gold, Non-Fiction and Debut HWA Crown Awards. Each shortlist category contains six outstanding books, ranging across centuries and continents and proving, once again, the richness, variety and vigour of historical writing currently being published in the UK. From all of […]