In Devon it is the bluebell season. Gardens and woodlands are tightly packed with them. They are beautiful, but also notorious because they can spread like weeds. My favourite colour for bluebells is dark cobalt blue variety, but of course there are white, pink and lilac coloured ones as well. The cobalt blue-coloured ones seem… Read more »
2020 was the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower leaving Plymouth in the UK and its perilous journey across the Atlantic. In Plymouth a host of events had been organised to mark the anniversary. Sadly, the COVID lockdown in the UK prevented most of these taking place. Including events such as the celebration in print of… Read more »
Earlier this year Margaret Duffy’s latest novel in her Patrick Gillard and Ingrid Langley mystery series was published by Severn House (severnhouse.com). It is the 14th novel in this popular collection, but can be read as a stand-alone novel. Her novels are set around the City of Bath < https://visitbath.co.uk/>, which most readers would associate… Read more »
In libraries throughout the U.K. Rebecca Tope’s popular crime fiction novels are on display. She has two main series: one set in the Lake District and the other in the Cotswolds. Her latest novel Echoes in the Cotswolds has just been published (Allison & Busby Limited 2021). When asked why set she had set a… Read more »
Lurking in corners of churches and cathedrals are hidden curiosities waiting to surprise the unsuspecting visitor. David Castleton in his Church Curiosities – Strange Objects and Bizarre Legends (Shirebooks, 2021 <www.shirebooks.co.uk> takes his reader on a guided tour of some of the most unusual, quirky and sometimes mystifying items that he has discovered. As… Read more »
Mary Tod’s latest novel Paris In Ruins will be published on March 30th 2021 (Heath Street Publishing). Set in Paris in 1870 Mary explains that her, “latest novel, Paris In Ruins, was sparked by the idea of taking a character from Lies Told In Silence back to a time when she was roughly twenty years… Read more »
The answer is the author Julieta Almeida Rodrigues and her debut novel Eleonora and Joseph. Her career and life have meant that she has lived, “through unique world events beginning with the ‘hot summer’ that followed the April 25, 1974 revolution in Portugal, when the country seemed ready to become the European Cuba…. Read more »
The PDF for Historical Fiction Writing – A practical guide and tool-kit by Myfanwy Cook (Published in 2011 by Active Sprite Press) is available on the web page highlighted below. Apologies to anyone who has had difficult accessing this resource. Historical Fiction Writing – A practical guide and tool-kit – Downloadable Resource
In times of turbulence, change and challenge, the readership of dark and haunting stories with a Gothic edge rises. Times when writers are inspired to write stories to scare and to intensify the claustrophobia of dark winter nights and the thoughts that accompany them. One element of Gothic-style writing is that the author’s characters often… Read more »
