Author: HistoricalHoney

My mum (an English graduate) heaped a pile of books in my lap one day, including classic novels such as I Capture The Castle and Franny and Zooey, and declared “all young women should read these books”.  She then demanded to know why I had never read Madame Bovary. I explained that I had been far too busy…

If you are anything of a historical novel buff, then you are probably already familiar with Kate Furnivall’s ‘The Jewel of St Petersburg’ and ‘The Russian Concubine’. As fabulous as I think those novels are, and they will definitely get their own review at a later date, I wanted to give this novel a particular mention.  The…

Each and everyone of us needs food to survive although some of us take the appreciation of this necessity to a level far beyond mere sustenance. For all their high brow intellect and unconventional lifestyles the Bloomsbury group were as fond of food and eating as many of us are today. Their love of food…

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said “happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort”. If this quote is anything to go by, Jane and Mary Parminter must have been extremely happy! A la Ronde was built for the two spinster cousins on their return from a grand tour of Europe, in…

Isabella of France is a B.A. (Hons) Babe of History. She was the daughter, sister, and mother of Kings of England and France, and also the daughter of  Queen Joan of Navarre. She was said to be as beautiful as her father, Philip the Fair, but was wise and tenacious as both her parents. A…

My husband and I were warned prior to traveling from Paris to Versailles; apparently we would be sorry to spend more than a day there. “You’ll be bored silly,” people scoffed. I now realize those people must be the very ones who plan fifteen activities a day on their “vacations.” Which makes it not a…

Boston: Athens of AmericaThe comparison to Athens might be a little far-fetched, but for America, Boston is as old as it gets. The epicenter of the American Revolution, Boston, Massachusetts is the gateway to where the Old meets the New England. So join me on a whirlwind tour of historical hotspots in a place that I am…

I like Amanda James. For a start, she is an ex-history teacher (which is always a positive in my book) and she is pretty funny to boot. By the third page of her new book, ‘A Stitch in Time’, I was giggling on the tube – ugh, embarrassing! Now, there is no denying we all judge…

The Celts would not have called themselves Celts. That is an outside term from the Greek “Keltoi” or Latin “Celtae.” The Celts may have referred to themselves as Brythons or Britons (They were not called English until after the rise of the Anglo Saxons later on in history). The term “Pict” meant “the painted people”…

Pre-Warning: I had never come across this story before. That being said, I found it to be so compelling I am officially obsessed. This is the story of John Tawell, a Quaker, a philanthropist, and a murderer. Sound juicy enough for you? For me, being a tech-loving history buff, the clincher was the involvement of…