For criminals, 1939 to 1945 were “the golden years”, as a crime boom swept Britain, The blackout and the black market that rationing encouraged were a gift to them. Mark Ellis explains why law-breaking rose by 60 per cent during the Second World War. I am the author of a series of crime thrillers featuring […]
A Call to Home by Holly Green
Alix has always been on the side of the Resistance. Over two years of danger and suffering, she has continued the fight alongside her comrades in the Partisans. But while facing constant threat, her personal relationships, with Nikola – the man she was supposed to marry – and Drago, her lifelong friend, are complicated. Working […]
Banquet of Beggars by Chris Lloyd
In Paris in 1940, survival means sacrifice. Like most in the city, Detective Eddie Giral has already lost so much under Occupation: the people he once loved, the job he once believed in. And his latest investigation into the murder of a black-marketeer has made it clearer than ever: Eddie is no longer just catching […]
Historical books to look out for in 2025
Welcome to Historia’s most popular regular feature, our round-up of historical books published by members of the Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) to look out for during the coming year. In 2025, there are over 130 books covering history, biography, and historical fiction and spanning eras from Ancient Greece to the 1980s. And there will be […]
The Liberation of Strasbourg 1944 by Paul StJohn Mackintosh
The occupation and liberation of Strasbourg was described by de Gaulle as ‘one of the most brilliant episodes in our military history’, yet is overshadowed outside France by the Battle of the Bulge. France’s equivalent to Douglas MacArthur’s oath, ‘I shall return,’ General Philippe Leclerc’s Oath of Kufra ‘not to lay down our arms until […]
Living in the minds of monsters
Many historical writers come across horrific events from the past during their research, and have to, however temporarily, see the world though the eyes of the perpetrators of atrocities. Douglas Jackson, author of Blood Sacrifice, writes about the mental cost of living in the minds of monsters. I recently came across a quote from a […]
The liberation of Naples in 1943 – and its dire consequences
When the Allies liberated Naples in 1943 they though it would be a paradise, Keith Lowe writes. But for the devastated city, there were dire consequences, in part caused by the liberators. Naples is a city of dreams. When the Allies first arrived here at the end of 1943, they came with romantic notions of […]
Naples 1944 by Keith Lowe
This is the story of the first major European city to be liberated by the Allies: what happened to Naples when the scourge of war lashed down upon it, but also, crucially, what happened next. The first major history of wartime Naples to appear in the English language fills a glaring gap in the British […]