Writing on a Norman silver mine in the final stages of editing my next novel, The Anarchy. Found this exquisite Norman silver bird brooch to help with writing the scene.
Tag: medieval
Welsh goldmine
Researching royal bastards, medieval Welsh noblewomen and Welsh gold at the British Library this week for the final book in my Welsh Conquest trilogy. The Anarchy – coming soon. See Impress Books.
Second-career writer
This medieval village and castle in the Tarn Valley in southern France was where I was first prompted to start writing historical fiction. A guest post by me charting my mid-life switch from academic to novelist has been published today on M.K. Tod’s A Writer of History blog.
Images from the medieval world
I am running a series of daily image trailers on Twitter prior to an illustrated talk that I am giving at Downham Market Library on Monday 11 December, 2-3pm. A lot of the research I undertake for my historical fiction involves images, objects, places and maps. To celebrate the publication of my latest novel, The…
Palaces and bishops
Thank you to Pembroke Dock Library for such an enjoyable event last week when I presented my new novel, The Drowned Court, and talked with the audience about medieval life and the process of writing historical fiction. And thanks too, to Bob, my ‘muse’, for driving me around Pembrokeshire again, so that we were able…
Hnefatafl -Viking boardgame
Since characters in Dublin who appear in my novel trilogy, Conquest, play the Viking boardgame, hnefatafl, I was excited to see a 9th century set of glass pieces from the game in a fabulous exhibition of medieval glass at the Cluny Museum in Paris this week. I am giving illustrated talks on the Conquest novels…
Book Reviews Request
‘I could not put this book down from the moment I started it. I practically inhaled the content.’ Poppy Coburn on Daughter of the Last King To those of you who have already read one or more of my historical novels: I would be grateful if you get the time to post a brief review…
Flying Far and Wide Through Words
‘I had looked out upon the wide kingdoms of the Earth as if I were caught up in ecstasy, flying far and wide through words …. Now, however, I will return exhausted to my black-clad life,’ declared the monk historian, Orderic Vitalis, who lived and worked in a Norman monastery in the 12th century. The…
Medieval Wales
Above is an artist’s impression of the Welsh fort at Carew that preceded the Norman stone castle occupying the site today. The sketch is based on findings from archaeology digs in the 1990s. The stone cross at the entrance to the site, inscribed with the name of the 11th century king Maredudd ap Edwin, is…
Stepping into medieval London
‘The only plagues of London are the immoderate drinking of fools and the frequency of fires’ wrote William Fitz Stephen in his account of the city in the 12th century. On a recent trip to Cambridge, Massachusetts I came across a little book called Norman London in a second-hand bookshop. The book contained Fitz Stephen’s…
