Florence. Spring, 1537. When Cesare Aldo investigates a report of intruders at a convent in the Renaissance city’s northern quarter, he enters a community divided by bitter rivalries and harbouring dark secrets. When a man’s body is found deep inside the convent, stabbed more than two dozen times, the case becomes even more complicated. Unthinkable […]
The Empress and the English Doctor by Lucy Ward
Within living memory, smallpox was a dreaded disease. Over human history it has killed untold millions. Back in the 18th century, as epidemics swept Europe, the first rumours emerged of an effective treatment: a mysterious method called inoculation. But a key problem remained: convincing people to accept the preventative remedy, the forerunner of vaccination. Arguments […]
Hannibal of Carthage edited by Lindsay Powell
With a new introduction, this is the story of Hannibal, often regarded as a successor to the mantle of Alexander the Great, at a time when Carthage, in North Africa, and Rome were rivals for land and power across the Mediterranean sea. A masterful tactician, a resourceful planner and courageous general, Hannibal famously crossed the […]
Hear No Evil by Sarah Smith
Glasgow, 1817: Jean Campbell, a young Deaf woman, is witnessed throwing a child into the River Clyde from the Old Bridge. If found guilty she faces one of two fates; death by hanging or incarceration in an asylum. But Jean’s deafness leaves her isolated and unable to defend herself, until the authorities call in Robert […]
The Rebel’s Mark by SW Perry
1598. Nicholas Shelby, unorthodox physician and reluctant spy for Robert Cecil, has brought his wife Bianca and their child home from exile in Padua. Welcome at court, his star is in the ascendancy. But he has returned to a dangerous world. Two old enemies are approaching their final reckoning. England and Spain are exhausted by […]
Historia giveaway! Ben Kane’s Lionheart trilogy
To celebrate Ben Kane‘s King coming out in paperback on 19 January, Historia is running a special giveaway! Two winners will each receive all three books in Ben’s Lionheart series: Lionheart, Crusader and King. The giveaway is open until 11.59pm on 28 January, 2023. Follow the instructions below to enter. You’ve got up to four chances to […]
King by Ben Kane
Autumn 1192. With Jerusalem still in the Saracens’ hands, and a peace treaty agreed with their leader Saladin, Richard the Lionheart is free at last to travel back to his strife-ridden kingdom. By his side at every turn is the loyal knight Ferdia, also known as Rufus. Together they will face not just Richard’s archenemy […]
The Clockwork Girl by Anna Mazzola
In the midst of the icy winter of 1750, as birds fall frozen from the sky above Paris, chambermaid Madeleine Chastel arrives at the home of the city’s celebrated clockmaker and his clever, unworldly daughter. Madeleine is hiding a dark past, and a dangerous purpose: to discover the truth of the clockmaker’s experiments and record […]