Deborah Swift's Blog, page 22

Bob Robbins Home Front Mysteries – J.G Harlond on writing about life in wartime England

I’m delighted to welcome J.G Harlond today, for a post about memory and research, and the writing of her cosy Bob Robbins Home Front Mysteries. J.G Harlond is a British author of historical crime novels. After travelling widely, Jane and her Spanish husband are now settled in rural Andalucía, Spain. Do grab a coffee and sit to […]

The Road to Liberation – Excerpt from ‘Stolen Childhood’ #WW2 #WWII

To mark 75 years since the world celebrated the end of WW2, I’m delighted to host an excerpt from Marion Kummerow’s book, Stolen Childhood, from the collection, The Road to Liberation. Enjoy! Marion Kummerow, “Stolen Childhood” “Watch me and learn,” Laszlo whispered to Mindel, as they were hiding outside the back door of the kitchen […]

The Gossip’s Choice, an interview with Sara Read #midwifery #17thCentury

Welcome to Sara Read, whose new book The Gossip’s Choice is out next week. As a fellow enthusiast for the Seventeenth Century, I was particularly keen to interview her and discover more about her new novel. The Blurb: “Call The Midwife for the 17th Century” Lucie Smith is a respected midwife who is married to Jasper, […]

Recommended Historical Reads for wet Tuesdays #TuesdayBookBlog

The Silken Rose by Carol McGrath Married at only thirteen years old to a King she has never met, Ailenor of Provence has to learn quickly what it is to be a Queen, and how to manage her relationship with her husband Henry III during the turbulent world of the thirteenth century – a world […]

Interview with Mary Anne Yarde – Saints, Standing Stones and an Ancient Curse

I’m delighted to welcome Mary Anne Yarde to my blog today. Mary Anne is the multi award-winning author of the International Bestselling Series — The Du Lac Chronicles. Did you envisage writing a long series when you started the first book, or did the idea grow? What made you want to carry on writing them? The Du […]

Ailenor of Provence and Queenship by Carol McGrath #medieval

I’m delighted to welcome historian and novelist Carol McGrath to my blog today, to tell us about the concept of Queenship as it relates to her new novel The Silken Rose. Ailenor of Provence and Queenship Ailenor of Provence was married to twenty-eight year old Henry III when she was only thirteen and he was […]

The String’s the Thing – Manet and fashion by Drema Drudge #art #historicalfiction

I’m delighted to welcome Drema Drudge to my blog today to talk about Manet’s models and their clothing, which feature in her new novel ‘Victorine.’ The String’s the Thing In Victorine, my historical novel coming out in the next few months, I write about the black choker Edouard Manet paints Victorine wearing. I imagine it as […]

Review: The Bleak Midwinter by L C Tyler

The fifth John Grey historical mystery 1668. John Grey is now a Justice of the Peace and lives in the manor house he has inherited on his mother’s death with his new wife, Aminta. As the village is cut off from the rest of the world by a heavy snowfall, George Barwell is discovered dead […]

A Place in the World by Amy Maroney – review

This is the last in the series and I’m sad to see it end. I thoroughly enjoyed this dual time-line narrative that takes us back to the sixteenth century, and Mira, a female artist trying to find her place in the world. On the trail of this artist is Zari, an art historian who is […]

17th Century Witchcraft by L C Tyler

Accusations In 1664, in Bury St Edmunds, the judge Sir Matthew Hale* – great lawyer but ‘as gullible as the simplest peasant’ concerning witches – had to sit on a case of purported witchcraft. A child had become ill and was taken to a ‘cunning man’, who advised the mother to wrap child in a […]