Blog | Lucienne Boyce

Lies At Her Door, A A Abbott (Perfect City Press, 2022)

Lies at Her Door is a psychological thriller set in one of the more affluent parts of affluent Clifton in Bristol. As a Bristolian, I enjoyed the setting and recognising …

None So Blind, Alis Hawkins (Canelo, 2021, first published 2018)

Between 1839 and 1843, the Rebecca rioters of west Wales rode out at night to tear down toll gates and make their protest against the high tolls charged on the …

The Contraband Killings Blog Tour 5 – 11 December 2022

The Contraband Killings: A Dan Foster Mystery is on a blog tour this week (5-11 December 2022). The tour will feature unique extracts, reviews and guest blogs. The schedule is …

Gallows Wake: The Sixth Voyage of Jesamiah Acorne by Helen Hollick

Gallows Wake: The Sixth Voyage of Jesamiah Acorne by Helen Hollick Earlier this month, Gallows Wake dropped anchor at Scriblerus as part of a blog tour. In a guest blog, …

Forcible feeding the kind way: Dr Helby of Winson Green Prison

Many suffragettes went on hunger strike in prison and were forcibly fed by prison doctors. A number of the hunger strikers published descriptions of their experiences in horrifying detail: the …

The Clichéd Stereotype? by Helen Hollick

In this guest blog, Helen Hollick asks what makes a good hero, a good heroine or even a good (bad?) villain? Cliché? Stereotype? Or something original? Is the clichéd, stereotypical …

Mrs Fischer’s War, Henrietta Leslie (Jarrolds, 1930) (Gladys Schütze)

Mrs Fischer’s War tells the story of a married couple, Carl and Janet Fischer, during the First World War. Carl was born in Germany but to escape a stern father …

The Ben the Tramp Novels of J Jefferson Farjeon

I took plenty of books on holiday with me this summer and enjoyed them all. Even so, I couldn’t resist looking at the small library at the property we stayed …

Bitten by the writing bug: Alison Morton, Romans and Me

In my last blog, I reviewed Alison Morton’s exciting new novel, Julia Prima. (You can read the review here.) I’m delighted that Alison was able to join us today to …

Julia Prima by Alison Morton: Pagans v Christians

Julia Prima, Alison Morton (Pulcheria Press, 2022) Alison Morton is the inventor of Roma Nova, a small but influential state (about the size of Luxembourg) founded in AD395 by 400 …

Fanny Fields, the Bristol Favourite: Dutch Girls, Suffragettes and Music Hall

My postcard collection includes this picture of Fanny Fields, a music hall star whose song The Suffragette was one of many music-hall references to the militant suffrage campaign of the …

My Month in Books: June 2022

The only thing the books I’ve written about this month have in common is that I loved them both! So from epic fantasy to grounded-in-gritty reality historical fiction, here are …