by Ambrose Parry A Review 'The Reverend struck me again ...... It was what happened when you ate filth.' The Art of Dying reacquaints the reader with Dr Will Raven and Sarah Fisher, protagonists of Ambrose Parry's first novel, The Way of All Flesh. Now fully qualified, Raven returns to Edinburgh from a study tour …
Category: Women in History
Witch Hunt
The Familiars by Stacey Halls A Review ' "The light and the darkness are equal forces - partners, if you will - then there is a moment, very quick and quiet, where you can see the day giving in to the night. That's when I know." ' [Alice Gray] We know about witches, don't we …
Alice!
A look back at the life of a famous child - I haven't done any blogging for a week or two because I've been on holiday, first in the New Forest, then in Belgium and the Netherlands. Wherever I go, I can't help looking for literary connections. A few years ago, at Winchester, it was …
Matoaka's Last Journey
'Tis enough that the child liveth.' Rebecca's Tale (Part Three) Wahunsenacawh did not attend his daughter’s wedding. Instead, he sent a brother-in-law and two nephews ‘to see the manner of the mariage and to doe in that behalfe what they were requested'. According to some accounts, he also sent Mataoka a pearl necklace as a …
'… for the good of this plantation'
'... Pokahuntas. To whom my hartie and best thoughts are ...' Rebecca's Tale (Part Two) Heacham is a holiday resort in the county of Norfolk. Situated on the shores of the Wash, it is the English centre of lavender farming and distilling, and boasts 100 acres under cultivation. The village was of sufficient importance in …
From Jamestown to Gravesend
'... the Kings most dear and well-beloved daughter ...' On looking back, I see that I first wrote this series of articles about four years ago. Time goes by so quickly and I felt compelled to introduce to (hopefully) a new audience what, for me, is a romantic and poignant true life story. **** Rebecca's …
Wonder Women
[WARNING! Any apparent similarity between this post and my previous one (Dreaming the Impossible) is pure coincidence.] Amazons by John Man A Review 'As always with superheroes, the plot involves saving the world, which suggests that the film is nothing but fun, at best, and utterly lacking in significance. Not at all. Wonder Woman is …
The Last Tudor
by Philippa Gregory A Review '[Katherine] turns to me and her blue eyes blaze with the Tudor temper. She has pride, just like me. "You don't deserve my love for you," she says, with her own silly logic. "But you have it anyway, when you least deserve it. Because I see the trouble you are …
'Kill them all; God will know his own.'
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse A Review History attributes those chilling words of the title to Arnaud Amaury, the papal legate who led the massacre at Beziers in 1209 CE. Whilst the records tell that the French Crusader army spared no one, the real targets of Catholic hatred were the Cathars, a pacifist and gnostic …
Revolutions are never gentle.
'Something interesting happened to me at work today . . .' Iran Awakening by Shirin Ebadi Shirin Ebadi is one of my very few real life heroes. An Iranian woman, born during the relatively liberal early reign of the last shah, when true democracy seemed only round the corner, she grew up to become a …
Bookheathen Scribblings 