The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
Peter Tonkin continues his deep dive into the sometimes grim and sometimes fabulously opulent world of sixteenth-century Europe as he returns to spymaster Robert Poley’s adventures. In this novel, spanning Paris, London, Eyemouth, Sheffield, and more, he brings to...
Some historians have labelled it a ‘genocide’, whereas other have suggested that what King William I did in the north of England, in the winter of 1069/70, was not out of character with the standards of the time. But, whilst we should always try to avoid projecting...
When on 19 August 14 CE, the Emperor Augustus died, by his side was his wife, Livia Drusilla. Livia was a paragon of Roman womanly virtues, who put hardly a foot wrong in fifty years of marriage to the most scrutinised man of his time, and yet, from at least the 2nd...
My second Alexander Baxby novel Naming the Dead is an exciting tale of murder, mystery and suspense, set against the colourful backdrop of early seventeenth century Amsterdam. Political and religious intrigue are closely entwined, as in the first book Paying in Blood....
Have you ever thrown a coin into the Trevi Fountain in Rome? You probably stood with your back to the fountain, as advised by everyone around you, but when you turned back, you may well have caught a glimpse of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. He is the armoured gentleman...
It’s perhaps true that for some of us, our understanding of early 17th century England stems from the closing chapters of classroom textbooks on the Tudors, often ending with the infamous Gunpowder Plot. Paying in Blood, however, draws our focus away from familiar...
David, congratulations on the new book. What's the plot of the new series? The new series follows the adventures of John Page, a real-life English soldier who served in Normandy during the reign of Henry V (1413-22). He misses the battle of Agincourt, but is outlawed...
The world of Elizabethan spiery is a crowded one – but, in Shadow of Poison, Peter Tonkin once again demonstrates why he stands head and shoulders above the crowd. Given his history of writing thrillers and Elizabethan fiction, Tonkin is a master of genre and era. His...
The Bratinsky Affair is Jim Loughran’s debut novel. Set in 1976, the thrilling story unfolds through a dual perspective: one is Tom O’Brien, a closeted Irish journalist from Wicklow, seeking the story to prove his ability to his higher-ups, and Irina Bratinsky, a...
Most historians, including this reviewer, are wary of reading historical fiction. The danger is in overlap. Did one get one’s view of life in the Georgian navy from Admiralty records, or from the pages of Patrick O’Brien? Similarly has one’s opinion of Marshal Marmont...
