Category: Uncategorized

I’m starting to think I’m being pigeon-holed here. And I’m loving it! Although, admittedly the genre I’m slowly sinking in to is pretty gruesome. But that’s why we read murder stories, right? There’s something about the cold, calculated killer that appeals to our sense of the macabre. And who could be more cold and calculating…

7 Many times I start a book and cannot wait to read the entire thing in one setting; engulfing myself into a new (or old) time and seeing in my minds eye the sites described, the… Nottingham is a diverse and interesting place to live. Most people do not realise the rich history of the area,…

There was once a young girl who lived with her mother, a Viennese maid, and her father, a coachman, in a servants’ cottage of a castle in northeastern Bohemia. She was beautiful, with raven-black hair…

How Did She Keep Henry Enraptured for Six Long Years Before Marriage? Like so many of you, I have a long-standing love affair with the mysterious, the beautiful, the oh-so-intriguing…Anne Boleyn. Why? Pondering that question,…

We are all human, and therefore, are at risk of making odd, stupid and downright silly mistakes. Even with meticulous planning…stuff can still go pear shaped. Assassinations are great examples of human calculation, and at… History is so packed with women it should be called ‘her-story’. Joke. What? Don’t look at me like that. Ok,…

8 I’m really glad I haven’t watched the film yet. As a rule I avoid seeing films before I’ve read the book, so when The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel (with Bret Witter) popped through… 6 Ahh, ask and ye shall receive. I mentioned in my previous review that the last two books had…

Few historians have the courage to challenge entrenched views, or historical misconceptions. Onyeka is one of those historians, who in Blackamoores: Africans in Tudor England, Their Presence, Status and Origins invites us to relook at…

As I walked the Battlefield of Culloden in July 1997, passing through the stones that marked the positions of King George’s army and Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Highland Clans, the day was warm and sunny with…

8 In Elizabethan England, where a person’s religious faith could cost them their lives, a suspected plot to overthrow the Queen and replace her with the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots overshadows everything. John Shakespeare, our… Forget Anne Boleyn – when it comes to one Queen to cause the most controversy, face accusations of witchcraft…

5 What appealed to me about the Secret Book Club was receiving a book which would propel me into a new world of books and reading. We all have staid reading habits when it comes to… Recently I’ve been enjoying books by Leanda de Lisle and Chris Skidmore, discussing the Tudor dynasty and their humble…