Historia’s giveaway for August 2021 is for three copies of Sisterhood by VB Grey, which is published on 19 August, 2021. Entries open at 6pm on 15 August, 2021, and close at 11.59pm on 24 August, 2021. Three winning entrants will each receive one copy of Sisterhood. Follow the instructions below to enter. You’ve got up […]
The Forgotten by Mary Chamberlain
London, 1958. 26-year-old Betty Fisher is one of the first to join the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and attend its inaugural meeting, where she meets John Harris. Posted to Berlin towards the end of the war, John has been left traumatised by his experiences in Germany. And, as his initial admiration for Betty shifts into […]
The Ambassador: Joseph P Kennedy at the Court of St James’s 1938-1940 by Susan Ronald
On February 18, 1938, Joseph P Kennedy was sworn in as US Ambassador to the Court of St. James. To say his appointment to the most prestigious and strategic diplomatic post in the world shocked the Establishment was an understatement: known for his profound Irish roots and staunch Catholicism, not to mention his ‘plain-spoken’ opinions […]
John F Kennedy, the ambassador’s second son
Susan Ronald’s new biography of Joseph P Kennedy covers his time as US Ambassador to Great Britain; a time which, as she tells Historia, his son Jack’s own political views and diplomatic skills – very different from his father’s – were formed. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, known as Jack to family and friends, was never meant […]
The Long Journey Home by Cecily Blench
It’s 1941 and Kate is living in Rangoon, Burma, a world away from her traditional English upbringing. When she meets Edwin, a young teacher from London, she senses that he too is looking for a place to call home, and soon a friendship develops between them. As their bond grows, Kate begins to learn of […]
The wartime diary that led to my first novel
Cecily Blench’s grandmother didn’t think her stories of being a nurse in wartime Burma and India were unusual, but her granddaughter found them memorable. And when Cecily read her grandma’s 1944 diary she found more inspiration to begin her first novel, the prizewinning The Long Journey Home, which is published on 10 June. My grandmother, […]
The Secretary by Catherine Hokin: exclusive extract for Historia
The Secretary, Catherine Hokin’s fourth Second World War-inspired novel, is a dual-timeline story set in the Third Reich Berlin of the 1940s and the Stasi-controlled eastern side of the city in the 1980s. Our exclusive extract is the prologue, which introduces us to Magda, one of the two main protagonists, and the Tower House – […]
A Ration Book Daughter by Jean Fullerton
Cathy was a happy, blushing bride when Britain went to war with Germany three years ago. But her youthful dreams were crushed by her violent husband Stanley’s involvement with the fascist blackshirts, and even when he’s conscripted to fight she knows it’s only a brief respite. Divorce is not an option. Cathy, a true Brogan […]