The HWA is delighted to announce the Crown Awards longlists for 2025, celebrating the best in historical writing, fiction and non-fiction, published during 2024–2025. There are three awards categories: HWA Gold Crown, HWA Non-fiction Crown, and HWA Debut Crown, and 12 books in each category. The books longlisted for the HWA Crown Awards for 2025 […]
Nemesis: Medieval England’s Greatest Enemy by Catherine Hanley
Philip II, also called Philip Augustus, ruled France with an iron fist for over 40 years, expanding its borders and increasing its power. For his entire reign his counterpart on the English throne was a member of the Plantagenet dynasty, and Philip took them all on: Henry II, Richard the Lionheart, John and Henry III. […]
Fenwomen by Mary Chamberlain
Mary Chamberlain’s vivid social and oral history of an isolated village in the Cambridgeshire Fens was the first book ever published by Virago. Told through the voices and lives of women, whose memories span over one hundred years, it provides a unique portrait of a working-class, rural community where intermarriage was common, most inhabitants lived […]
1217: The Battles that Saved England by Catherine Hanley
In 1215 King John had agreed to the terms of Magna Carta, but then reneged on his word, plunging the kingdom into war. Rebellious barons offered the throne to the French prince, Louis, and set off a chain of events that almost changed the course of English history. Louis arrived in May 1216, was proclaimed […]
Syndrome K, the ‘disease’ that saved lives in occupied Rome
Sarah Freethy uncovers the extraordinary story of Syndrome K, the supposedly deadly disease that saved lives in German-occupied Rome in 1943. The Fatebenefratelli Hospital sits on an island in the south bend of the Tiber, in the heart of Rome. It looks as if a great ship beached itself between Trastevere and the Jewish Quarter, […]
The Stolen Crown by Tracy Borman
In March, 1603, Queen Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, lies dying at Richmond Palace. The queen’s ministers cluster round her bedside, urging her to name her successor — something she has stubbornly resisted throughout her reign. Almost with her last breath she whispers that James VI of Scotland should succeed her. Or so we’ve […]
The Englishman who fought for Genghis Khan
When Angus Donald learned about a Templar who had joined the Mongol invaders of Europe in the 13th century, he knew it was the perfect story for a historical novel. He tells Historia about Robert, the Englishman who fought for Genghis Khan, and how he found out about this extraordinary piece of history. In the […]
King Harold Godwinson’s death – did the Bayeux Tapestry embroider the truth?
When the Bayeux Tapestry comes to the British Museum next year it’ll be easier for many of us to see for ourselves the moment that changed English history for ever: Harold Godwinson shot in the eye at the Battle of Hastings. But, says Paul Bernardi, that may not be what happened on 14 October, 1066. […]