17 November is St Hilda’s feast day. Who better to write about the 7th-century Abbess of Whitby’s world than Nicola Griffith, whose novel Menewood, the second in her retelling of Hilda’s (or Hild’s) life, has just been published in paperback? Here she looks at the battle which opens her book: Hatfield, in 632. Menewood is […]
Red brick women: 1930s university pioneers
What was life like at university for the pioneering women who went to a red brick institution in the 1930s? Lizzie Bentham, who writes mysteries set against this background, draws on family experiences to explain. Each autumn, thousands of students will begin studying at so-called red brick universities, the nine civic universities founded in the […]
Dora Maar: much more than a muse
Even now, Dora Maar is probably remembered for being Picasso’s lover and the subject of many of his paintings rather than as the innovative artist she was. Louisa Treger, whose latest novel retells her story, explains why Dora was much more than a muse. For years, the epithet ‘Picasso’s Weeping Woman’ has followed every mention […]
Women and the Crusades
Women played a significant role in the Crusades, whether as pilgrims, or supporting the army or, on occasion, as Queens Regnant of Jerusalem, Carol McGrath writes. And, although Richard I’s role in the conflict is well known, few people are aware of the roles of his sister Joanna, or his wife, Berengaria. The Crusades were […]
Mothers in war: Cecily Neville and her royal rivals
Annie Garthwaite’s second novel, The King’s Mother, picks up the story of Cecily Neville to follow the purposeful power plays of four rival royal mothers during the 15th-century Wars of the Roses. Here she reflects on their careers – and on her own determination to bring their stories to the fore. Shortly after the publication […]
How Mary Wortley Montagu and other great 18th-century women were forgotten
Diminished, disparaged, derided. That’s how Sean Lusk describes the fate of Mary Wortley Montagu and other great women of the 18th century. He looks at how they came to be forgotten. I had not intended to write a novel about Mary Wortley Montagu. Her Turkish Embassy Letters were the inspiration for the character of Aunt […]
Heroines of the Tudor World by Sharon Bennett Connolly
These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. These are the women who made a difference, who influenced countries, kings and the Reformation. Heroines of the Tudor World focuses on the women who lived through the Renaissance and Reformation, examining the […]
The Lost Queen by Sophie Shorland
Despite Catherine of Braganza’s crucial place in British history, and that of its Empire, she has since been overshadowed by stories of the king’s many mistresses and forgotten as Charles II’s boring, powerless wife. This could not be further from the truth. Historian Sophie Shorland not only tells the full story of this long-overlooked figure […]