France, 1670. On her 16th birthday, Sylvienne d’Aubert thinks her dream has come true. She holds in her hands an invitation from King Louis XIV to attend his royal court. However, her mother harbours a long-time secret she’s kept from both her daughter and the monarch, a secret that could upend Sylvienne’s life. In Paris, […]
The Nightingale’s Castle by Sonia Velton
In 1573, Countess Erzsébet Báthory gave birth to an illegitimate child. The infant, a girl, was swiftly bundled up and handed to a local peasant family to be brought up in one of the hamlets surrounding the Castle. Many years later, 15-year-old Boróka reluctantly leaves the safety of the only home she has ever known […]
Birds of Prey by Damion Hunter
It has been 12 years since Faustus Valerianus first arrived in Britain, a centurion in the conquering Roman army. Many battles have been won, many allegiances gained. But those victories hide a more complex truth. In West Britain, the powerful Silures led by King Loarn plot their rebellion, fighting back against the now diminished strength […]
A Nest of Vipers by Harini Nagendra
When Edward, Prince of Wales, begins a tour of a number of Indian cities in 1921, he encounters passionate crowds demanding independence from Britain, with rioting on the streets of Bombay in November. The mood of the prince’s subsequent trip to Bangalore and Mysore in January 1922 appears, at first glance, very different and is […]
The Queen’s Lender by Jean Findlay
George Heriot, jeweller to King James VI and I, moves with the Court from Edinburgh to London to take over the English throne. It is 1603. Life is a Babel of languages and glittering new wealth. The Scottish court speaks Danish, German, Middle Scots, French and Latin. King James gives Shakespeare his first secure position, […]
Magic versus jadoo in 1920s British Colonial India
Harini Nagendra writes about the street magicians of India and how these performers of jadoo fascinated Westerners, who copied their ‘tricks’ unashamedly. But the jadoogars, unlike some of their cobras, still had fangs. Growing up in India in the 1970s, I read widely, but was especially fascinated by books that featured animals, and magic. Enid […]
Revenge of the Tyrants by LA Kristiansen
Scotland, 1306. While the King of Scots wages a desperate, bloody war for Scotland’s independence, four intrepid Scottish knights flee from cunning Templar Geoffrey De Charney’s labyrinth on a treasure barge. What follows is a journey directly to the heart of the conflict, and a vivid depiction of the scheming, treachery and violence it entailed. […]
Moot by Rob McInroy
Now settled in Crieff with his wife Annie, Bob Kelty is busy preparing for the Rover Scout Moot, which will see thousands of Rover Scouts from all over the world pitch tents on the Monzie Estate in Perthshire. Murder is the last thing on his mind. That is, until a burnt-out tent is discovered on […]