In 1937, fisherman’s son, John Norman’s first encounter of Felicity MacDougall, the daughter of a retired tea planter, is prickly at best. But a chance meeting during a London air raid leads to a tentative romance, which becomes long distance when John joins the Navy and Felicity takes a job at the infamous, secretive Bletchley […]
The Widow with the Lamp
Liz Macrae Shaw tells how a tragic family tale inspired a novel. The human brain is a story-seeking missile. From early childhood we search out stories, starting with our own personal ones. That’s why programmes about genealogy such as Who Do You Think You Are? have such an appeal and why family history is a […]
Romance or Realism?
As we await the announcement of this year’s Walter Scott prize for historical fiction, Liz Macrae Shaw reflects on Scott’s Scottish legacy and the writers that have followed in his wake. The books we read when we are young mark us like tree rings and become part of our DNA. While I was at primary […]