Dive In
Summer holidays to me mean one thing - swimming and reading. Here are ten books to help you escape. Just click on the image to read more. Happy reading!
The Past is Another Country
I have a guilty pleasure. I love research. If I had my way, I’d spend all day poking around in libraries, exploring significant locations, sampling local dishes or getting lost
HEROICA, by Alison Morton
Three stories of the women of the Mitela family, descendants of the founders of Roma Nova, bound by blood and courage.
Facts from Fiction
Kings and queens, memorisation of dates without analysis and tales of British heroism against Johnny Foreigner – it wasn’t what you’d call balanced.
When reading becomes dangerous: Fire, Fear and Fatal Accidents – Part Two
By Jane Davis James Lackington bemoaned in his memoirs, “my master would never permit me to take a candle into my room, and that prohibition I looked upon as a kind
Reading by Candlelight: Why the Dark Made Reading a Social Act in the Eighteenth Century
To read by candlelight was a physical act. Readers leaned forward, craned their necks, narrowed their eyes. Flames danced and wavered constantly, so the letters themselves seemed to tremble. A single candle did not flood the page with light. Books had to be angled precisely to prevent words dissolving into shadow. Unsurprisingly, eye strain was a common complaint.
A Pair of Blue Eyes
1927: Europe is healing. Berlin is burning—bright with decadence, danger, and change. Ladies’ magazines spin a seductive illusion of fashion, culture and opportunity. The reality is acrobats and divorcees, degenerates and amputees
Man or Mama Bear
Debate recently raged over a question posed to women: would you rather be alone in the woods with a man or a bear? Strong views and heated exchanges revealed an uncomfortable truth – many women would feel safer with a bear. Cue gender wars and sexual politics and #notallmen and #MeToo, a bristling forest of vocal opinions.
EXSILIUM, by Alison Morton
Women influenced and managed their society – some more than others – even though they had no public political power.