Elizabeth Buchan and The New Mrs Clifton

Continuing the ‘Love me, love my character’ series, I’m delighted to welcome back to the blog Elizabeth Buchan; she very kindly answered a newbie blogger’s questions with much patience and grace. Elizabeth Buchan began her career as a blurb writer at Penguin Books after graduating from the University of Kent with a double degree in […]

Jane Davis's Counterfeit Self

What a pleasure it is to welcome the talented Jane Davis back as my Thursday guest! Jane is the author of seven novels. Her debut, Half-truths and White Lies, won the Daily Mail First Novel Award and was described by Joanne Harris as ‘A story of secrets, lies, grief and, ultimately, redemption, charmingly handled by […]

Ruth Downie - Love me, love my character

Today, I’m delighted to welcome Ruth Downie back to the Roma Nova writing world. She’s talked before about historic truth and donkey poo, and wrote a poignant account ‘from below’ at the court of Boudica as part of A Year of Ravens. Of course, Roma Novans know her as the name on the endorsement for […]

Triskele Lit Fest - friendly and with fizz!

STOP PRESS: video added below!

The historical fiction panel, left to right Jane Davis (chair) Orna Ross, Radhika Swarup, J D Smith and me (see video of session below!)

Scarcely recovered from the Historical Novel Society Conference, I was back on the plane ten days later en route to a rainy London and […]

Annelise Freisenbruch and the Rivals of the Republic

Today I’m delighted to welcome to my blog somebody whose writing I deeply admire. I bought ‘The First Ladies of Rome’, which explored the hidden history of women in Ancient Rome, as soon as I saw it in 2010. The author and today’s honoured guest, Annelise Freisenbruch, was born in Bermuda and studied Classics at […]