During the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, a young Englishwoman delivers vital forged documents to a Jewish scientist. This is her first ‘assignment’, she is out of her depth and justifiably scared – and in a very short time she lies dead of an apparent heroin overdose in a Cambridge bedroom. So begins Rory Clements’ […]
I know what story I want to tell; how do I tell it?
Dear Dr Darwin, I’ve found a gripping set of historical events that I want to build a novel round, and before you start shaking your Tudor bonnet, it’s not because I have a non-fiction agenda: this is a glorious concatenation of politics, faith, personalities, clothes, weapons and all the other things that make historical fiction […]
February Giveaway!
Two books up for grabs this month! Win a copy of Viper’s Blood, the new novel from bestselling author David Gilman AND a copy of Divided Souls, the latest in the Kingmaker series from Toby Clements. Read more about Master of War: Viper’s Blood. Read more about Kingmaker: Divided Souls. Just follow the instructions below to enter. […]
A Place In History
Jane Harlond explores how real places inspire authors. There is a cave in Iceland that I will always remember. It is a place I have never been, but Karen Maitland took me there in Falcons of Fire and Ice and I have never been able to forget it. There is a valley full of butterflies […]
Historia Interviews: Rory Clements
Best known for the acclaimed John Shakespeare series of historical thrillers, Rory Clements won the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award with Revenger and hit the bestseller lists with Holy Spy. His new book, Corpus, is the first in a major new series and is already garnering great reviews. You can win a copy here. Katherine Clements (no […]
January Giveaway!
Win a copy of Corpus, the new novel from bestselling author Rory Clements! 1936. Europe is in turmoil. The Nazis have marched into the Rhineland. In Russia, Stalin has unleashed his Great Terror. Spain has erupted in civil war. Set against the drumbeat of war and moving from Berlin to Cambridge, from Whitehall to the […]
The Ghosts of History
Judith Allnatt on the ghosts of history and the inspiration behind her book, The Silk Factory. When a friend told me that she was hearing strange sounds in her house accompanied by a strong smell of soot, despite there being no open fires, it set me wondering what the site had been used for in […]
HWA Announces New Awards!
The Historical Writers’ Association has announced that they will be awarding two new Crown awards to outstanding historical writers in 2017, alongside the already established HWA Debut Crown. The HWA Endeavour Ink Gold Crown will be awarded to the best historical novel of the year, and the HWA Non-fiction Crown is for the best popular […]