February, 2026 has given us the full Bronte with two retellings of Wuthering Heights. Kate Griffin, the author of several Gothic novels and lover of films set in the Victorian era, is the ideal person to review both the new film reimagining of Emily’s Bronte’s story and Essie Fox’s reframing in her novel, Catherine. There’s […]
Christmas reading 2025 – historical books to give or to treat yourself to
We asked 12 well-loved authors to each suggest a couple of historical books to give, receive, or treat yourself to for Christmas 2025. There are ideas for history-reading children and teens as well. Newly-published or classics, fiction and non-fiction, their choices range from Ancient Rome to a history of Black British culture, via the Crusades, […]
The Blackbirds of St Giles by Lila Cain
It’s 1782, Daniel and his sister Pearl arrive in London with the world at their feet and their future assured. Having escaped a Jamaican sugar plantation, Daniel fought for the British in the American War of Independence and was rewarded with freedom and an inheritance. But the city is not a place for men like […]
The Blackbirds of St Giles by Lila Cain
It’s 1782, Daniel and his sister Pearl arrive in London with the world at their feet and their future assured. Having escaped a Jamaican sugar plantation, Daniel fought for the British in the American War of Independence and was rewarded with freedom and an inheritance. But the city is not a place for men […]
The St Giles rookery – poverty, geography and expedience
Kate Griffin writes about discovering the history of the St Giles rookery, London’s most notorious slum and the backdrop to her new book. Why was the area left in a state of shocking poverty for two centuries? Because of its geography, and financial expedience, she found. Hogarth’s famous 1751 depiction of Gin Lane with its […]
The magic of full moons
Kate Griffin explores the lore of full moons and explains why she chose moon magic to deepen the character of Marta, the protagonist of her latest novel, Fyneshade. Writing is a strange and solitary activity. Locked in their dens (or in my case chained to the kitchen table), most authors feel that they are howling […]
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 […]
Top six Turns of the Screw
Kate Griffin’s new novel, Fyneshade, takes her love of Victorian Gothic to a new level. Who could be better to select the top six film and TV adaptations of the ultimate governess in a strange house story, Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw, for its 125th anniversary? The year 1898 saw the publication of […]