Fall is always a big season for fiction, and here are 14 upcoming novels that caught my interest. Distinctive settings across the board, with a mix of big-name publishers and smaller presses from both the US and UK. I’ve been curious about this one ever since I read the original publishing deal. The story of…
This July I’m considering the different ways we can research for our fiction. I know I’ve done this before and I know I will do this again. It’s not my fiction-writing side that pushes me to find more explanations and better explanations. It’s my academic side. I’ve been examining how Germans view their Jewish past…
This fifth and last volume in the Harriet Gordon series, set in colonial Singapore in 1911, is the most excitingly constructed mystery I’ve read for some time. The title refers to the shocking death of a fifteen-year-old girl who sang at a ball at Government House held to celebrate the arrival of the new Secretary…
Have you ever said yes to something without really knowing what you were agreeing to? I’ve just taken on a marathon, though it also resembles a sprint. I was honoured to be asked to be one of the 9 judges for this year’s Historical Writer’s Association Gold Crown award for the best historical fiction novel…
India Edghill’s latest novel A Tiger in the Garden is a sweeping epic set in the isolated Indian hills in the Victorian era. At its heart is the intricate battle of wills – and transforming relationship – between Lily Shawcross, a dark-haired English girl of just sixteen, and Sherdil, Rajah of the independent Indian state of Sherabagh. …
The Sacra Infermeria: The Holy Infirmary. Malta. By Kathryn Gauci The Sacra Infermeria from the Entrance Fort Elmo Many visitors to Malta these days visit The Malta Experience at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, situated opposite Fort Elmo in Valletta, unaware that this building, which overlooks the Grand Harbour, once housed the most important hospital in…
Everyone familiar with the Tudors knows that Elizabeth I became queen after the death of her older half-sister, Mary I, giving her name to the era considered England’s Golden Age. Though it may seem to have been a natural choice, Janet Wertman’s latest novel makes plain that Elizabeth’s succession to the throne was never a…
The Historical Novel Society lists a comprehensive range of titles from mainstream and small press publishers for novels set from ancient times to the mid-1970s. Titles are listed alphabetically by author last name within their expected publishing month (see links below) and cover all historical fiction sub genres. Details are pulled from publisher catalogues and…
INTERVIEW BY KATHERINE MEZZACAPPA Lucy Pick is a historian of the thought and culture of medieval Spain who has published on Christian, Muslim, and Jewish relations and the intersection of gender, religion, and royal power. She taught for over twenty years at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. Her first historical novel, Pilgrimage…
On Boxing Day it was 20 years since the terrible tsunami in the Indian ocean. Remembering our shock on hearing about that disaster, which killed 230,000 people, started me thinking about floods which have happened nearer to home, all of which occurred in January. ‘A true report of certaine wonderfull ouerflowings of waters, now lately…
