Juliet West is the author of Before the Fall and The Faithful; the latter has been picked as a top summer read in Prima, Red and Good Housekeeping magazines and is out in paperback on 26 July 2018. What is your earliest memory? Helping my little brother to walk down the stairs. I might have […]
The Faithful by Juliet West
The Faithful is a compelling read where intimate personal narratives are influenced by historical events leading up to World War II. At the centre of the novel is the character of Hazel, to whom we are first introduced in the summer of 1935. By this time in the teenaged Hazel’s life her well-to-do parents have […]
June Giveaway!
Three fantastic new releases up for grabs this month. Win a copy of The Faithful, the brand new novel from Juliet West, historian Clare Mulley’s latest, The Women Who Flew For Hitler, and At First Light, Vanessa Lafaye’s follow up to her debut hit Summertime. Read more about The Faithful. Read more about The Women Who Flew For Hitler. Read […]
Historia Interviews: Juliet West and Vanessa Lafaye
Juliet West and Vanessa Lafaye discuss the dark political backdrops to their new novels, The Faithful and At First Light. Both books are love stories which explore ‘inconvenient history’: episodes which have slipped from the collective consciousness because they expose uncomfortable truths about society. Vanessa: We both decided to dramatise events which have been shoved […]
Historia Interviews: Barbara Erskine
When Barbara Erskine’s debut Lady of Hay was published in 1986, it became an instant hit and went on to sell over three million copies worldwide. Thirty years on, Barbara’s novels have appeared in at least twenty-six languages, and continue to top the bestseller lists. This summer sees the publication of a new novel, Sleeper’s […]
Curating History
Earlier this year I visited a fascinating exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Treasured Possessions was a history of items that our forebears – rich and poor – kept in their homes or close to their bodies. Put more simply, it was a history of ‘stuff’, and it was brilliantly done. From tableware to […]
Picture This
Dressed in their Sunday best, straight-backed and solemn-faced, the family in the photograph appears the epitome of working class respectability. Taken around 1913, the picture shows Annie Baker, her husband Arthur and their daughter Florence. There is a look of calm innocence in their eyes, and perhaps this is why I have always found the […]