The Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) has great pleasure in revealing the 2025 Crown Awards shortlists, celebrating the best in historical writing, fiction and non-fiction, published during 2024–2025. There are three awards categories — HWA Gold Crown, HWA Non-fiction Crown, and HWA Debut Crown — and six shortlisted books in each category. The books shortlisted for […]
Carnival of Lies by DV Bishop
Venice in the winter of 1539. When Cesare Aldo learns of a conspiracy to assassinate Duke Cosimo de’ Medici, he is hired to protect the ruler of Florence – with his life, if necessary. The deadly attack that follows leads to bodies, bloodshed… and something far more dangerous. Those behind the plot obtain a journal […]
The Night in Venice by AJ Martin
Venice, 1911. Monica is a 14-year-old with a wild imagination and an unbearably dull governess named Rose Driscoll. She was supposed to be entering the most exciting time of her life but, with her parents and uncle now dead, she has been forced to leave leafy Hampstead and move to a flat on the busy […]
The Virgins of Venice by Gina Buonaguro
Venice in 1509 is on the brink of war. The displeasure of Pope Julius II is a continuing threat to the republic, as is the barely contained fighting in the countryside. Amid this turmoil, noblewoman Justina Soranzo, just 16, hopes to make a rare love marriage with her sweetheart, Luca Cicogna. Her hopes are dashed […]
Mask wearing and crime in Renaissance Venice
The author Deborah Swift thought that setting her third Italian Renaissance novel in Venice during the Carnival would give her villain the ideal opportunity for disguise. But when she began her research she discovered that the association between mask wearing and crime in Venice was anything but straightforward. When I decided to set a novel […]
Did the Venetians Invent the Package Holiday?
If medieval pilgrims were the first mass tourists, then was Venice the first tour operator?
The Man with the Blue Sleeve
Victoria Blake on how her fascination with a painting inspired her new novel, Titian’s Boatman. It all began when I fell in love with a man. Rather an unusual event for me because I’ve been with my partner Maureen for eighteen years now. The man in question hangs on the wall of Room 2 in the […]