10 Great historical fiction reads 2020 was another year for some great historical fiction reads. I search for anything French Renaissance or thereabouts, but I don’t limit myself to that period, so you will find other periods in this very personal list. Since our delightful book club members have such diverse tastes, we each read
10 Historical Fiction Favourites from 2020 Read More »
Murder most foul was as much a medieval as it is a modern problem. With a nod to Bob Dylan’s recent song title, murder most foul was not uncommon in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. This will come as no surprise to any fan of Game of Thrones. Nor to any historian of the
Medieval Murder Most Foul Read More »
Like a secret stash of undiscovered documents, The Weight of Ink is a historical novelist‘s treasure. Set in London in both the 1660s and the early 2000s, The Weight of Ink is a double timeline historical novel. Its heroines are two intellectually gifted women whose talents are recognized by few. Intellectually gifted heroines The first,
The Weight of Ink: a historical novelist’s treasure Read More »
Rozsa Gaston’s Anne… Rozsa Gaston’s third book about Anne of Brittany, Rulers and Lovers, is now available. Tony Riches, author and book blogger featured it recently on The Writing Desk. Rozsa tells the story of Anne and Louis’s first big fight. Who would win when they differed over who their daughter should marry. Louis wanted
Rozsa Gaston's Anne of Brittany Read More »
Mary, as a Queen of Scots, portrayed as a study in failure in Jenny Wormald’s book, was viewed very differently in France. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, has long been portrayed as one of history’s romantically tragic figures. Devious, naive, beautiful and sexually voracious, often highly principled, she secured the Scottish throne and bolstered the
Mary, Queen of Scots – A Study in Failure Read More »
The Three Graces Trilogy offers something unusual: novels of the French religious conflict with noblewomen as heroines. The three de Clèves sisters find themselves on differing sides, so each brings a unique perspective. Thus Laura du Pre offers her readers an experience of the religious wars in a personal, female way. The Three Graces Trilogy: Engaging
Three Graces Trilogy: Novels of the French Religious Conflict Read More »
Empress of the East: How a European Slave Girl Became Queen of the Ottoman Empire Anyone who loves Dorothy Dunnett’s, Lymond Chronicles will remember Roxelana. A major character in A Pawn in Frankincense and to a lesser extent in The Ringed Castle, she is both powerful and enigmatic. So to discover a biography of
Empress of the East Read More »
4 novels about Diane de Poitiers, one of France’s powerful French royal mistress are available now. French Royal Mistresses were powerful women. From Agnes Sorel, the first official royal mistress, each royal wife tolerated one or more accepted mistresses. Diane de Poitiers mistress of King Henri II, was Catherine’s de Medici’s great rival. A description
4 Novels about Diane de Poitiers Read More »
Nine novels about two French Renaissance Queens! What a delightful array to choose among when you next want something to read. Especially when they’re about the two most notorious queens of the period Catherine de Medici and her daughter, Marguerite de Valois. So it should be no surprise they dominate historical fiction in English written
Nine Novels About Two French Renaissance Queens Read More »
