Berlin, 1944. ‘No! Not my child!’ Annaliese screams, her voice breaking as she pounds the window uselessly. But no-one looks up as the man in the SS uniform cradles her precious baby and strides away… She lies unmoving on the threadbare cot, her throat hoarse from long hours of screaming but her tears keep falling. […]
The Austrian Bride by Helen Parusel
Austria, 1938 After years of hardship, Ella is full of hope for a better future for Austrians, and when Hitler marches into Linz, she can’t help but become swept up in the euphoria of her boyfriend, Max. But she soon realises her mistake. When she witnesses a woman being shot in the street and a […]
The Guinea Pig Club – a WWII RAF pilot elite
The Guinea Pig Club was formed in 1941 by a group of remarkable RAF pilots, men who survived both life-altering injuries during action and the surgery, by a charismatic virtuoso doctor, which followed. They were an elite, modest but courageous, whose stories inspired LP Fergusson to write her latest novel. The Fever Box is a […]
The Fever Box by LP Fergusson
When Clara Cooper’s abusive husband is lost in action during the Fall of France, she grabs the opportunity to disappear, secretly returning to nursing. Although Britain is on the brink of invasion, she finds a comforting anonymity working in the vast military hospital on the south coast. However, more than pain and suffering lurk in […]
Historical books to look out for in 2024
Welcome to Historia’s most popular regular feature, our round-up of books published by members of the Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) to look out for during the coming year. For 2024, there are more than 200 books covering history, biography, and historical fiction and spanning eras from Ancient Greece and Egypt to the 1980s. They sweep […]
From Taranto to Pearl Harbor – spies and inspiration
To mark the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Alan Bardos explains how uncovering a tale of spies helped him link Britain’s attack on Taranto in 1940 to the Japanese strike – and inspired his new novel, Rising Tide. I have always been captivated by the daring and skill of the Fleet […]
The Orphans on the Train by Gill Thompson
1939, and a girl with auburn hair looks anxiously out of the train window, watching the mountains of Europe pass by. War is on the horizon at home, and Kirsty finds herself heading to neutral Hungary to help in a school for Jewish children. Little does she know that in leaving everything behind, she is […]
Agent in the Shadows by Alex Gerlis
It’s June, 1943. In Lyon, the capital of the French resistance, a secret meeting is held under orders from General de Gaulle. The objective is to unite all resistance factions. The future of France is on the line. But when the meeting is raided by the Gestapo under Klaus Barbie, the ‘Butcher of Lyon’, the […]