One Wednesday morning in November, 1912, the ageing Thomas Hardy, entombed by paper and books and increasingly estranged from his wife Emma, finds her dying in her bedroom. Between his speaking to her and taking her in his arms, she has gone. The day before, he and Emma had exchanged bitter words, leading Hardy to […]
The Capsarius by Simon Turney
Egypt. 25BC. A former surgeon from the city of Ancyra, Titus Cervianus is now a capsarius – a combat medic. He is a pragmatist, a scientist – and deeply unpopular with his legion, the Twenty Second Deiotariana. The Twenty Second have been sent to deal with uprisings in Egypt. Founded as the private army of […]
A Marriage of Lions by Elizabeth Chadwick
England in 1238. Raised at the court of King Henry III as a chamber lady to the queen, young Joanna of Swanscombe’s life changes forever when she comes into an inheritance far above all expectations, including her own. Now that she’s a wealthy heiress, Joanna’s arranged marriage to the King’s charming, tournament-loving half-brother William de […]
Reconstructing Emma Hardy’s secret diaries
The Chosen is Elizabeth Lowry’s new novel about the days immediately following the death of Thomas Hardy’s first wife, Emma, in November, 1912, and of Hardy’s writing of Tess of the d’Urbervilles some 20 years earlier. It’s also the story of how some of the greatest love poems in English, Hardy’s Poems of 1912–13, came […]
Beheld: Godiva’s Story by Christopher M Cevasco
Having survived a grave illness to become one of 11th-century England’s wealthiest landowners, Godgyfu of Coventry remains forever grateful to the town whose patron saint worked such miracles. She vows to rebuild Coventry’s abbey and better the lives of its townsfolk. But the wider kingdom is descending into political turmoil, and her husband, Earl Leofric, […]
Honouring Adele, Egon Schiele’s muse
When Sophie Haydock was researching her debut novel, The Flames, she was surprised to discover the burial place of one of the subjects of her book, unmarked and unremembered. This is the story of how she became determined to make sure Adele Harms’s life, and name, would be recognised and honoured. I walked past grand […]
The Bear’s Blade by Tim Hodkinson
935 AD, Norway. Recovering from horrendous injuries, Einar finds himself unable to fight. He is not strong enough to defeat his rival, Eirik, who has seized Orkney despite Einar being the rightful Jarl. Eirik’s men soon raid the Norwegian coast, led by a warrior called the Bear. Cruel and ferocious, the Bear possesses a legendary […]
The Pilot’s Girl by Catherine Hokin
‘Smile, nod, and don’t breathe a word of what happens here. Or I’ll put you on the next train to Auschwitz myself.’ Four years later. Hanni Winter shivers in her thin coat as she hurries through the empty Berlin streets to her job. Despite the freezing winter and poverty all around, her cheeks flush when she meets […]