The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
The wonderful cover of Steven Veerapen’s Of Blood Descended invites the reader to enter a rich world of murder and mystery in 16th century England. The contents within do not disappoint. Of Blood Descended carries Veerapen’s hallmark of exemplary historical research...
William Ashby, ambassador and spy, is not a well-known historical figure. Indeed, so successful a secret agent was he that few today will have heard of him. To me, he has always been little more than a name, mentioned in biographies of King James (when Ashby, seeking...
Early in Richard Cohen’s excellent Making History he quotes his distinguished predecessor, the late John Burrow: ‘Almost all historians … have some characteristic weakness … It is often the source of their most interesting writing’. Cohen’s weaknesses are for story,...
Books of 2021 from Aspects of HistoryTimothy Ashby Author of Elizabethan Secret AgentAt the top of my favourites list of recent historical books is Leanda de Lisle´s Henrietta Maria. Although non-fiction, the book reads like a historical novel, with fascinating...
Queens of the Wild comes with two intentions: to introduce general readers to some striking and often neglected superhuman female figures from medieval and early modern Europe, and to make an intervention in a major current scholarly debate. That debate concerns the...
A Dangerous Trade was the first in your Queen’s Spies thrillers, set in Elizabethan England and involving the interweaving fates of Queen Elizabeth and Mary, Queen of Scots – there were plenty of plots throughout Elizabeth I’s reign. Did any real-life plots make it...
What a difficult decision - to pick my five favourite of Tudor histories! I am not an avid reader but have decided to concentrate on the more modern books which have had a significant influence on my own efforts, covering the period of Mary Queen of Scots and...
At the beginning of A Reluctant Assassin, by John Pilkington, we are introduced to the novel’s protagonist, Will Revill. This starts a sense of intrigue that continues throughout the novel, as the reader is left clues about Revill’s past role in the military, and what...
Elizabeth I's Final Years outlines the interwoven relationships and rivalries between politicians and courtiers surrounding England’s omnipotent queen in the years following the death in 1588 of the Earl of Leicester, whose life has been explored in Elizabeth I’s...
What first attracted you to the period or periods you work in? It began with genealogy and my wife’s connection to the Erskine’s of Mar. In researching them I was drawn into the story of Mary Queen of Scots but wanted to approach it from the point of view of the...
