Author of Historical Fiction and Mysteries
A few weeks ago, I was researching medieval church architecture for Book Two of my Hildegard of Bingen series (which will come out in February 2019). Part of the story concerns Hildegard's project of building a church for her new foundation, which she wants to imitate the "French style," i.e. the nascent Gothic style (though,... Continue Reading →
I have confessed on this blog to being conservative when it comes to my historical fiction: I prefer it realistic and serious, no fantasy, parody, alternative histories, etc. Then I came across a synopsis of The Scribe of Siena by Melodie Winawer. The setting of the novel – medieval Siena – had me sit up... Continue Reading →
Guest post by Robyn Cadwallader London, 1321: In a small London shop, three people are drawn together around the creation of a magnificent illuminated prayer book. Even though the commission seems to answer the aspirations of each one of them, their secrets, desires and ambitions threaten its completion. As each struggles to see the book... Continue Reading →
Guest blog by Christy Nicholas In Misfortune of Time, book #6 in The Druid’s Brooch series, the main character is Étaín, a grandmother who lives in 11th century Ireland in the shadow of a massive Christian abbey. Her husband is a priest, enamored of piety and asceticism, and she must hide her pagan magic in... Continue Reading →
Guest blog by Donna Gawell In the Shadow of Salem is the story of an infamous Puritan, Mehitabel Braybrooke. Her life didn’t start out well, and history books and town records have not been kind. Mehitabel was an illegitimate child of a servant and a prosperous landowner, Richard Braybrooke. Both parents were whipped for the... Continue Reading →
Anchoresses were medieval women who chose to pursue a particularly demanding form of monastic life, namely complete isolation from the world. Once enclosed, they would typically live out their lives in a small cell, servants delivering their food and the priest hearing their confession being the only people with whom they would have contact. So... Continue Reading →
Guest blog by Pippa Brush Chappell One of the first questions my non-fiction-reading partner always asks about a movie or a book is, 'is it a true story?' It used to really wind me up, but now that I’m trying to write a 'true story,' I find myself having to engage with what that actually... Continue Reading →
March was Women’s History Month, and I made my website available to guest bloggers who write novels about history’s lesser-known women. I had a great response and ended up featuring four posts on topics spanning more than 400 years of history and both sides of the Atlantic. From Martin Luther’s wife in the 16th century... Continue Reading →
Guest post by Margaret Skea For some writers research is a chore, but that wasn’t the case with me when I decided to write a biographical novel based on the life of Katharina von Bora, Martin Luther’s wife. There are relatively few books about her, and one author opens his (slim) volume with this sentence:... Continue Reading →
