Okehampton is a town brimful of historic delights including ‘haunted’ castle ruins, a well-maintained Edwardian shopping arcade.It has now added to its attractions an independent bookshop <www.dogberryandfinch.co.uk>. It is owned and run by Kate McCloskey, whose life-long love of books is informed by a background in academia, advertising and libraries. Perhaps it is less well-known… Read more »
All over the world there are small and unusual museums run by dedicated volunteers that highlight fascinating and often hidden details about history. One local example of an often overlooked site and cafe-style museum in Devon is RAF Harrowbeer, near Plymouth. It was built during the Second World War and is now popular picnic spot…. Read more »
“Writing a novel about the unimaginable” The Scent of Lilacs by Haydn Corper Haydn Corper explains why he wanted to write a novel “about the unimaginable”. “I wrote my novel, The Scent of Lilacs, because it was a story which I felt should be told. I am a history enthusiast and I have always been… Read more »
A MOST ENGLISH PRINCESS Clare McHugh’ s debut historical fiction novel will be published in the USA/Canada by HarperCollins on the 22nd of September and in the UK from October the 29th. Readers from other countries will be able to purchase it from Amazon US (ISBN: 0062997602). For further information about Clare and her writing… Read more »
What do the historical fiction novels The Infamous Army (1937) by Georgette Heyer and Without Warning: The Saga of Gettysburg, A Reluctant Union Hero, and the Men He Inspired (2020) by debut novelist Terry Pierce have in common? The novels both have battles and battlefields as their primary settings. Secondly, they have both incorporated meticulous… Read more »
Local history and community month is drawing to a close, but to end on an encouraging note for all those writers of historical fiction who are thinking of basing their stories and novels around a local historical event or the story of an ancestor Peter Maher has done just that. Elizabeth Maher “The VERY simple… Read more »
Local history and community month in the UK. <https://www.history.org.uk/historian/resource/1567/local-and-community-history-month> Local history is an excellent source of inspiration for writers of historical fiction. They are able to uncover a wealth of stories about real people which can provide them with characters, events and details of life that can transform a fading photo into an engrossing… Read more »
This year the gardens, hedgerows and Devon lanes have been covered with an abundance of bluebells. Not all of them have been native bluebells (or harebells as they are known in Scotland), <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinthoides_non-scripta> but their stained glass window bright blue has added a dash of vibrant colour to many ‘lock down’ walks. St. Eustachius, Tavistock,… Read more »
In Devon and Cornwall children used to collect primroses to make primrose wine and cordial. Primroses were also boiled with sugar to make cough syrup. Primroses have featured in poems and literature. They are to be found in the works of Shakespeare, Robert Bridges, Sir Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, John Milton, Oliver Goldsmith, Jean… Read more »
Literary Mysteries associated with Tavistock and the surrounding area Whenever I visit a second-hand bookshop, I can’t resist trying to find writers from the past (including novelists and poets), who have either written about Tavistock (Devon, England) or who came from Tavistock. Then I love to try to find out more about them and why… Read more »
