The Coronation That Nearly Didn’t Happen
‘I don’t mind praying to the Eternal Father but I must be the only man in the country afflicted with an eternal mother.’ Edward VII as the Prince of Wales
Charlotte Betts
A Murderous Marriage – Women in 17th Century Naples – Guest author Deborah Swift
Welcome to guest author Deborah Swift, who writes here about her new book The Poison Keeper. Over to you, Deborah! My main character Giulia Tofana was supposed to have caused the deaths of 600 men in 17th Century Italy. To find out why, I had to research women’s lives at the time and find out …
The Poison Keeper by Deborah Swift – review
I was completely swept away into the shadowy and dangerous world of Giulia Tofano in Renaissance Italy.
Darjeeling Inheritance by Liz Harris – review
Darjeeling Inheritance is a meticulously researched story set in Darjeeling in the 1930s. The descriptions are beautifully written and give the reader a real sense of the atmosphere of the place and the beauty of the landscape.
A Stitch in Time – the history of sewing machines
My mother taught me to use a sewing machine when I was eight years old and I began to make my own clothes straight away. At first I used my grandmother’s treadle Singer and when I was ten my mother gave me her ornate but ancient hand-cranked Singer.