December, 1765, and in the early hours of the morning, Sukey Maynard flees her home – a brothel in Covent Garden. Her maidenhood is about to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, and she is too frightened to stay. But when she is captured and returned to the house of fallen sisters, she has […]
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, […]
Harlem After Midnight by Louise Hare
1936, September 17th, 1am, and in the middle of Harlem, in the dead of night, a woman falls from a second storey window. In her hand, she holds a passport and the name written on it is Lena Aldridge… Nine days earlier: Lena arrived in Harlem less than two weeks ago, full of hope for […]
Historia Live in September – our next author event
Do you love books and history? Would you like to hear your favourite HWA authors talking about all things historical fiction at an in-person event in a historic London pub? Then join us at Historia Live in September! After the successful launch of Historia Live in June, the HWA brings you three more much-loved authors […]
Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare
Lena Aldridge is wondering if life has passed her by. The dazzling theatre career she hoped for hasn’t worked out. Instead, she’s stuck singing in a sticky-floored basement club in Soho and her married lover has just left her. She has nothing to look forward to until a stranger offers her the chance of a […]
RMS Queen Mary, the great transatlantic liner
While researching transatlantic liners for her new murder mystery, Louise Hare discovered the “perfect ship” already existed: the glamorous, luxurious RMS Queen Mary, launched at the perfect time: the turbulent late 1930s. She tells Historia about what was once the greatest cruise ship of all. When I originally set out to write Miss Aldridge Regrets, […]