Deborah Swift's Blog, page 29
September 22, 2016
A Seventeenth Century Quaker Character
One of the main characters in The Lady���s Slipper��which has just been re-released, is Richard Wheeler. Like all my favourite characters he is determined, strong and capable, but unlike most other heroes when the novel opens he has just become a ���seeker after Truth��� or a��Quaker. Today we tend to view the Quakers as quite […]
September 10, 2016
Recommended Regency Historical Fiction – The House in Quill Court
Multi-award winning author Charlotte Betts is renowned for winning the Historical Romance category in the Romantic Novelists Association Awards, not once but twice. Having just finished The House in Quill Court I think that the romance label does her a disfavour, because readers are expecting only a romance, and her books are always so much […]
August 30, 2016
The Secret of a Welsh Medieval Manuscript
I’m delighted to welcome Mark Noce to my blog today, introducing his debut novel ‘Between Two Fires’, which is set in medieval Wales. I was particularly interested in this book because by coincidence I was just reading recently about The Black Book of Carmarthen, (Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin) which is the earliest surviving medieval manuscript written […]
August 24, 2016
Historical Fiction – Ten Editing Tools. No 1 – Light
The power of place and atmosphere is what drove me to first pick up my pen and try to write something set in the past. A useful editing tool to enliven your novel is to go through the draft and examine the quality of the light. Before the advent of artificial illumination, the lack […]
August 16, 2016
Historical Fiction – Virtue no 7 – Education, education, education
In considering the virtues of historical fiction, I’ve left the most obvious until last. As well as being a good story, historical fiction is educational. In fact most stories were told to us as children as if they were history, so the line between storytelling and history has always been blurred. We have all heard […]
August 14, 2016
Recommended Research – Eyewitness books on the Stuart Period
Just found this great little hardback book whilst browsing Carnforth Bookshop (which has more than 10,000 second hand books!). Also in this series by A F Scott are titles ‘The Plantagenet Age’, ‘The Tudor Age’ and ‘The Georgian Age.’ Compiled as a series of quotations, each book contains observations about every part of the lifestyle […]
August 3, 2016
Cabinet of Curio-stories – A 17th century ‘kicking’ lock
On the Sherborne Museum website is this gorgeous picture of a seventeenth century lock.��In 1654 diarist John Evelyn wrote that sophisticated lock mechanisms were ‘rare contrivances’��and regarded as technological marvels, ‘esteem’d a curiositie even among foraine princes’. In the days when there were no banks, a surprising number of strong boxes were made to […]
July 20, 2016
Historical Fiction – Seven Virtues. No 6: Servants and Masters
In my life today I have no servants living in my house. The work done by servants in previous centuries is now done by machines, or automation has rendered it unnecessary. ��For a historical fiction writer the presence of servants in the house is a massive opportunity for drama and for insight. In previous […]
Historical Fiction – Seven Virtues. No 5: Servants and Masters
In my life today I have no servants living in my house. The work done by servants in previous centuries is now done by machines, or automation has rendered it unnecessary. ��For a historical fiction writer the presence of servants in the house is a massive opportunity for drama and for insight. In previous […]
July 19, 2016
Magician John Dee and his strange friendship with Edward Kelley
Today I welcome guest blogger Elizabeth Ashworth, author of many historical novels and several books of non-fiction. Elizabeth’s new book��The Merlin’s Wife��tells the story of John Dee’s life from the point of view of his wife, Jane. Dee was the most famous magician in the reign of Elizabeth I. My review of the book follows��the […]
