Just posted – a video interview with me on writing The Anarchy with editor Ellie Daniel. We discussed castles in Wales, the little-known women of early medieval history, research for historical fiction, and the character of King Henry I. My latest newsletter is now available. If you are not already on my mailing list you…
The Anarchy out now in paperback
It is available to order at last! The e-book of my latest novel, The Anarchy, was published in June, but due to coronavirus disruptions for printers, distributors, and publishers, the paperback edition is only just now reaching many online retailers. The Anarchy is the final book in the Conquest series focused on Nest ferch Rhys, the daughter of…
Smoke and Mirrors
My review of Sophia Tobin’s novel, A Map of the Damage, is Editor’s Choice in the new issue of Historical Novels Review. ‘A scintillating novel of smoke and mirrors set in the glass-loaded Mirrormakers Club in London…. The novel vividly confronts us with the physical damage of the Blitz and makes us alive to the emotional…
The Sound of the Middle Ages
I look at the now deserted and stagnant lavoirs, the communal washing places, in the Lot Valley in France and can almost hear women singing, gossiping about mistresses and neighbours, and slapping wet laundry against the stone papillon slabs. My article, ‘The Sound of the Middle Ages‘, has just been published in Historical Novels Review.
Hyperlocal
My latest interview for the Call Centre art research project on the coronavirus pandemic is with artist Tine Bech. We contemplated the pull of home and the imperative to move out from home. We discussed our new sense of hyperlocal arising from the lockdown. You can see a summary of our conversation and more on…
Wu Wei Workshop
Wu Wei is the sense of letting go, of letting yourself be spacious so that the universe can come in. Friday 31 July 2020 19.00-21.30 & Saturday 1 August 2020 11.00-18.00 (European time) On Zoom 50 euros, Registration deadline: 23 July 2020, info@gresolart.com (English, Castellano and Catalan spoken. Flyer also available in Castellano and Catalan.)…
Taking a Line for a Walk
Alan Smith talking on his COVID-19 drawings. Part of the Call Centre art research project on the coronavirus crisis by Tracey Warr. Being and getting home. Experiences of time and momentum. Images emerge from the marks like something uncertainly perceived in flickering candlelight in chthonic darkness underground. Drawing, Alan says, is ‘thinking that happens on the…
Home
Call Centre is an art research project inviting people to share their experiences of this time of COVID-19 and how it has impacted on lives and creative processes. The project is curated by Alan Smith and Helen Ratcliffe at Allenheads Contemporary Arts. I am working on the project, together with writer Martyn Hudson Watts and artists Annie Carpenter, Kerry Morrison,…
Add Women to History and Stir
An interview with me by my publisher, Jeffrey Collyer, to coincide with the publication of my new historical novel The Anarchy – the final book in the Conquest trilogy set in 12th century Wales, England, and Normandy. The book is available now as an e-book and will be out as a paperback in the next…
Sumptuous and Presumptuous
My blogpost on Henry of Blois, the 12th century bishop of Winchester, is published today on the English Historical Fiction Authors site. Henry of Blois, was the grandson of William the Conqueror. Bernard of Clairvaux described him as ‘that old whore of Winchester’. For Henry of Huntingdon he was ‘a new kind of monster, composed…
