Yorkshire, 1983. Thatcher is at Number 10, Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ is on the radio and Lorraine Quick is having to put plans to tour with her band on hold due to work. With her expertise in psychometric testing, she is being sent to the Yorkshire moors to build a PR-friendly team out of the ragtag […]
Isolation Ward by Martine Bailey
Yorkshire, 1983, and Margaret Thatcher is in N0 10, Thriller is on the radio and Lorraine Quick is having to put plans to tour with her band on hold due to work. With her expertise in psychometric testing, she is being sent to the Yorkshire moors to build a PR-friendly team out of the rag-tag […]
Sharp Scratch by Martine Bailey
Salford, 1983. Lorraine Quick is a single mother, a member of a band going nowhere fast, and personnel officer at the grim Memorial Hospital. A new general manager position is being introduced, and Lorraine’s recent training in the cutting-edge science of psychometric testing will be pivotal. As the profiles start to emerge, a chilling light […]
Sharp Scratch by Martine Bailey
Salford, 1983, and Lorraine Quick is a single mother, a member of a band going nowhere fast, and personnel officer at the grim Memorial Hospital. A new general manager position is being introduced, and Lorraine’s recent training in the cutting-edge science of psychometric testing will be pivotal. As the profiles start to emerge, a chilling […]
Review: The Prophet by Martine Bailey
Martine Bailey’s latest novel The Prophet is a sequel to 2019’s The Almanack and is another beautifully crafted story balanced on the cusp of the old world and the new, writes Catherine Hokin. The Almanack took place in 1752 against a backdrop of the transition from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar and the ‘lost […]
The Prophet by Martine Bailey
Cheshire. May Day, 1753. Tabitha De Vallory believes her life is perfect: she has an imposing home with all the comforts she has ever desired, and is expecting her first child with doting husband Nathaniel De Vallory. But Tabitha’s happiness is shaken when a girl is slaughtered beneath the Mondrem Oak on the family’s forest […]
A charmed life: childbirth and superstition
Eagle-stones, holy girdles, cheese and cake and a coral rattle: all were meant to aid childbirth and keep the newborn baby safe. Quaint superstitions to us, perhaps, but sensible approaches when facing the danger of giving birth, Martine Bailey, author of The Prophet, argues. “When a woman conceived she was launched on a roaring wave […]
Historia’s books of the year for 2019
Whether you prefer reading historical fiction or non-fiction (or both, why not?), we hope you’ll find something to surprise, delight or intrigue you in this round-up of books featured in Historia during 2019. So if you’re looking for a Christmas present for a history lover or a good read for the long winter nights, have […]