The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
I went in fully expecting to cry, and cried anyway, for most of the duration. Knowing how a story ends turns out to be no protection at all. Baudry's second part opens at the end of 1942 and closes in the autumn of 1944, and it is a different beast from the first....
Usually in British history, the death of a British regnant Queen has led to a change of ruling house. After Elizabeth I, it went from Tudor to Stuart. After Anne, it went from Stuart to Hanover. After Victoria, it went from Hanover to Saxe-Coburg-und-Gotha. On the...
For many writers of historical fiction, the whole process of unearthing forgotten stories from the past is often triggered by some contemporary occurrence. A few years ago, during the global conversation around the Black Lives Matter movement, I found myself following...
Most people, especially in today’s world, would think it was bad enough and they were unfortunate enough to be caught up in a pogrom. To then be caught up as well in a revolution invokes serious questions including those of fairness and justice. To then be caught up...
‘English-grown saffron’ sounds like the subject of a contemporary, climate-change news story, akin to reports of olive groves thriving on the Lincolnshire fens, or award-winning Kentish vineyards. To learn, therefore, that the saffron in question had been cultivated...
The central character in Shadow of the Axeand the five Queen's Intelligencer novels that follow it* is Robert Poley. Like many of the other characters in the books, including especially Elizabeth’s darling, the Earl of Essex, Robert Poley does make an appearance in...
Since learning about Thanksgiving in the United States, I was intrigued to know why the Mayflower Pilgrims were revered on one side of the Atlantic but rarely mentioned on the other. Why did they flee Lincolnshire in 1608? What subsequently caused Puritans from...
I went in expecting a monument and came out more French than I have felt in years of living in London. Antonin Baudry’s film, the first of two parts, is adapted from Julian Jackson’s A Certain Idea of France, and there is something pleasing in a French epic of this...
Aspects of History is pleased to announce the launch of a new, major independent publisher. Marshal Books. A holding page can be found here: Marshal Books – Publishing. At a time when many presses are cutting their lists or seeing sales contract, it's refreshing to...
Unbelievably, most people have probably never heard of Brian Franks until now. Loved by officers and soldiers alike, he was tough, capable, charismatic and charming, and David Stirling credited him as being one of the five founding fathers of the SAS. Yet...
