Margaret Lennox is recently widowed and in need of a position. It must be far from the past that still haunts her. She finds what appears to be the perfect engagement: governess to a child in an isolated country house. Yet from the first, Hartwood Hall is unwelcoming. Why do the locals eye her employer, […]
The Hidden Years by Rachel Hore
When talented musician Gray Robinson persuades Belle to abandon her university studies and follow him to Silverwood, home to an artistic community on the Cornish coast, Belle happily agrees even though they’ve only just met. She knows she is falling in love, and the thought of spending a carefree summer with Gray is all she […]
Fyneshade by Kate Griffin
On the day of her beloved grandmother’s funeral, Marta discovers that she is to become governess to the young daughter of Sir William Pritchard. Separated from her lover and discarded by her family, Marta has no choice but to journey to Pritchard’s ancient and crumbling house, Fyneshade, in the wilds of Derbyshire. All is not […]
Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook
London, 1850. Constance Horton has disappeared. Maude, her older sister, knows only that Constance abandoned the apothecary they call home, and, disguised as a boy, boarded a ship bound for the Arctic. She never returned. ‘A tragic accident’, the Admiralty called it. But Maude Horton knows something isn’t right. When she finds Constance’s journal, it […]
Sherlock Holmes and the Duelling Dukes by Linda Stratmann
In 1877, Sherlock Holmes and his good friend Mr Stamford have taken a break from their studies at Barts Medical College in London to join a gentlemen’s sporting week at a large country manor house. But on arrival, they find the guests consumed by old rivalries, with new hatreds and sinister plots festering among them. […]
Historical books to look out for in 2024
Welcome to Historia’s most popular regular feature, our round-up of books published by members of the Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) to look out for during the coming year. For 2024, there are more than 200 books covering history, biography, and historical fiction and spanning eras from Ancient Greece and Egypt to the 1980s. They sweep […]
Poetic Justice by Fiona Forsyth
It’s AD9 and Rome’s celebrated love poet Ovid finds himself in exile, courtesy of an irate Emperor, in the far-flung town of Tomis. Appalled at being banished to a barbarous region at the very edge of the Empire, Ovid soon discovers that he has a far more urgent — and potentially perilous — issue to […]
The Pantomime Murders by Fiona Veitch Smith
December, 1929. Snow is falling, and Miss Clara Vale is wrapped up against the cold as she braves the icy streets of Newcastle in her latest investigation. When a young actress from the touring pantomime of Cinderella arrives at her door, Clara isn’t sure what to make of her request. Sybil Langford, the legendary fairy […]







