It’s the summer of 1822 and Edinburgh is abuzz with rumours of King George IV’s impending visit. In botanical circles, however, a different kind of excitement has gripped the city. In the newly-installed Botanic Garden, the Agave Americana plant looks set to flower; an event that only occurs once every few decades. When newly-widowed Elizabeth […]
Rediscovering Edinburgh’s New Town
Sometimes we can get access to a kind of time machine. Reading good historical fiction can transport us to our social and political past, as Sara Sheridan says. But things like Covid lockdowns, when the streets are stripped of crowds and transport, can also open a time portal – which is how she came to […]
The Master of Measham Hall by Anna Abney
1665. It is five years since King Charles II returned from exile, the scars of the English Civil Wars are yet to heal and now the Great Plague engulfs the land. Alethea Hawthorne is safe inside the walls of the Calverton household as a lady’s companion waiting in anticipation of the day she can return […]
Plague and pandemic: how we responded then and now
The idea for Anna Abney’s debut novel came from the “wider implications” of the Plague of 1665: the responses to the disease and its social effects. Then, editing her book during Covid, she was struck by the similarities between the ways the two pandemics affected people, as she tells Historia. I was teaching Daniel Defoe’s […]
The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk
Born in Leadenhall Street in London in 1754, raised amongst the cogs and springs of his father’s workshop, Zachary Cloudesley has grown up surrounded by strange and enchanting clockwork automata. He is a happy child, beloved by his father Abel and the workmen who help bring his father’s creations to life. He is also the […]
Acts of Love and War by Maggie Brookes
It’s 1936 and there’s civil war in Spain, a world on the brink of chaos. 21-year-old Lucy feels content with her life in Hertfordshire, not least because she lives next door to Tom and Jamie, two very different brothers for whom she has equally great affection. But her comfortable life is turned upside down when […]
The Wall by Douglas Jackson
In AD400, Rome and its Empire are failing. Veteran cavalry commander Marcus Flavius Victor sets out with his regiment to make what may be his final tour of the forts along Hadrian’s Wall. Through a combination of military prowess, brutality and bribery, Marcus has spent 20 years keeping the savage Picts at bay. Feared by […]
Madwoman by Louisa Treger
In 1887 young Nellie Bly sets out for New York and a career in journalism, determined to make her way as a serious reporter, whatever that may take. But life in the city is tougher than she imagined. Down to her last dime and desperate to prove her worth, she comes up with a dangerous […]