Last Friday thirty women gathered to discuss Sue Monk Kidd‘s novel, The Invention of Wings. Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond
David Lawlor authors the very intriguing blog, History with a Twist. It’s full of stories about unexpected events and people, what David calls ‘celebrating the bit players of history’. When I
My friend Douglas Burcham has created an innovative scheme for evaluating books using what he calls the five E’s. Engrossing and interesting Enjoyment and entertainment Emotional Educational Ease of reading
In the latest New York Times Book Review James Parker, contributing editor at The Atlantic, and Anna Holmes, an editor at Fusion, discuss whether book reviews should be considered a
Myfanwy Cook‘s Historical Fiction Writing: A Practical Guide and Toolkit is next in the list of books I’ve been reading about the craft of writing historical fiction. Myfanwy is a prize winning
Tony Riches is a keen writer, blogger, tweeter and reader of historical fiction. We met one day when I discovered some advice he had to offer on his blog, The Writing Desk
January is always a dangerous time. And no, I don’t mean the ice and snow that comes from living in Canada. January is dangerous because it’s my planning time; the
My older brother Dave has a passion for history and a keen eye for historical accuracy. In 2013 he read and critiqued the first two of Ken Follett‘s trilogy about
I knew I was an outlier when I was the only person who put my hand up to indicate that I had not enjoyed Jojo Moyes‘s novel Me Before You.
On Tuesday, I posted books read between January and June 2014. Today I’ve included those from the balance of the year using the same rating scheme: GR = good read, several
The historical fiction author behind A Writer of History...
