The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
This wonderful novel made me ache to visit Syracuse just as Antony and Cleopatra took me to Egypt and Julius Caesar took me to Rome. Why? Because one of the most important characters in Syracuse Will Burn is Syracuse itself. In a highly effective narrative strand, the...
Sawadika American Girl is a moving coming-of-age novel that explores identity, belonging, grief, and the complicated legacy of the Vietnam War. Drawing on her own experiences as a Third Culture Kid (TCK) – someone who spends a significant part of their developmental...
Over the last six years, Aspects of History has brought you the best historical writing from established and new authors alike, whether non-fiction or fiction. So we are now excited to outline a new chapter for the Aspects of History Substack. Our website has grown...
When I first stumbled across the story of the Women's Timber Corps more than a decade ago, I was astonished that I had never heard of them. These young women had felled trees, driven timber lorries, worked in dangerous sawmills and helped keep Britain fighting during...
Welcome to Aspects of History, Xiao Hei. A Tibetan Girl Called Ata is your first novel to appear in English, after several tragic romance novels published in Chinese. What was it that made you want to bring this particular story, and this particular side of modern...
Hitler believed in the Darwinian struggle for existence. Life did not, could not, exist without conflict. All too soon after his ascent into power, and initially, Europe got to experience the consequences of his grim and aggressive political beliefs. In Great Britain,...
Welcome back to Aspects of History, Jim. You wrote your first novel, The Bratinsky Affair, late in life after a long and successful career. What prompted you to do so? I am originally from Northern Ireland and studied French and Spanish at Queen’s University Belfast....
If I had never been to Tibet, I might have found it difficult to understand the Tibetan riots that broke out in Lhasa in 2008. Nor would I have felt such a powerful urge to complete my novel, A Tibetan Girl Called Ata, a tragic cross-cultural love story that unfolds...
Welcome Daria. Congratulations on the publication of your first novel Sawadika American Girl. What made you decide to write a historical fiction inspired by your own experiences as a Third Culture Kid (TCK) in Bangkok during the Vietnam War? Thank you so much. I’m...
I was very interested to see Archduke, as I have spent years researching and writing about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The Royal Court warned me that the play was not entirely historically accurate. So it would be bad form to list all the historical...
