The year 771, Northern Europe. Bjarki Bloodhand and Tor Hildarsdottir are journeying south into Saxony. Their destination is the Irminsul, the One Tree that links the Nine Worlds of the Middle-Realm. In this most holy place, they hope to learn how to summon their animal spirits so they can enter the ranks of the legendary […]
The Fall of the House of Byron by Emily Brand
In the early 18th century, Newstead Abbey was among the most admired aristocratic homes in England. It was the abode of William, fourth Baron Byron – a popular amateur composer and artist – and his teenage wife Frances. But by the end of the century, the building had become a crumbling and ill-cared-for ruin. Surrounded […]
City of Vengeance by DV Bishop
Florence. Winter, 1536. A prominent Jewish moneylender is murdered in his home, a death with wide implications in a city powered by immense wealth. Cesare Aldo, a former soldier and now an officer of the Renaissance city’s most feared criminal court, is given four days to solve the murder: catch the killer before the feast […]
The Puritan Princess by Miranda Malins
1657, and the youngest daughter of Oliver Cromwell, 18-year-old Frances, is finding her place at England’s new centre of power. Following the turmoil of Civil War, a fragile sense of stability has returned to the country. Her father has risen to the unprecedented position of Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, and Frances has found herself […]
Love Letters of Kings and Queens (ed) Dan Smith
Tender, moving, heartfelt and warm (and sporadically scandalous and outrageous too), these are the private messages between people in love. Yet they are also correspondence between the rulers of nations. From Henry VIII’s lovelorn notes to Anne Boleyn and George IV’s impassioned notes to his secret wife, to Queen Victoria’s tender letters to Prince Albert […]
Lullaby Beach by Stella Duffy
When Lucy discovers the body of her great aunt Kitty, with a puzzling note and empty pill bottles by her bed, she can’t believe that the formidable woman who held her family together is gone, or understand why she has taken her own life. Lucy is determined to decipher Kitty’s final message. What she finds […]
Shadow of the Hawk by David Gilman
Thomas Blackstone, Edward III’s Master of War takes to Spain in the seventh instalment of David Gilman’s chronicle of the Hundred Years’ War. Winter, 1364. The King is dead.Defeated on the field of Poitiers, Jean Le Bon, King of France, honoured his treaty with England until his death. His son and heir, Charles V, has […]
The Diplomat’s Wife by Michael Ridpath
It’s 1936. Devastated by the death of her beloved brother Hugh, Emma seeks to keep his memory alive by wholeheartedly embracing his dreams of a communist revolution. But when she marries an ambitious diplomat, she must leave her ideals behind and live within the confines of embassy life in Paris and Nazi Berlin. Then one […]