Category: Historical fiction
+ brothers, family, fiction, gothic, gothic horror, Historical fiction, love, review, secrets, supernatural, World War One, WW1
The Patient in the Tower by G. R. Pidgeon
The war may be over, but the nightmare is just beginning… Released from prison after years of solitary confinement for refusing to fight in the Great War, Robert Latimer arrives in an isolated village looking for his brother. Thomas was wounded in France and sent to Ravensmere House for treatment. But the sprawling estate has a sinister reputation, housing the most disturbed soldiers returning … Read More The Patient in the Tower by G. R. Pidgeon
+ 1920s, 1980s, art, family, family drama, fiction, Historical fiction, India, romance
The Emerald Sketchbook by Helen Sellarajah
Delhi, 1920. After five years in England, seventeen-year-old Patricia Harris returns to British India to assume a future shaped by societal expectations, and her plans to pursue her art, and marry the respectable Frederick Ward of the Indian Civil Service. Instead, she finds herself caught between two very different men, and a man with scars and secrets of his own. She is confronted by … Read More The Emerald Sketchbook by Helen Sellarajah
Little Spark by Jess Kidd
From the bestselling author of Things in Jars and The Night Ship comes a spellbinding gothic novel in which lifelike machines walk, old bones lie buried beneath the marsh grass, and a young woman born crackling with power confronts the terrible truth of her origins. A secret cannot stay locked away forever… Bodkin Bell, orphan, pickpocket and survivor, doesn’t know where she came from, … Read More Little Spark by Jess Kidd
+ crime fiction, folklore, gothic, Gothic mystery, grief, Historical fiction, humour fiction, Iceland, Iceland noir, Ireland, List, murder mystery, mystery, political thriller, politics, Scandi noir, superstition, thriller, witchcraft
My Top 10 Books of 2026 – Part Three
Here are ten of my favourite books of 2026 Part Three, excluding audiobooks, of which there are loads so far. As usual a disparate selection, with a fair bit of superstition thrown in, and my usual Gothic, plus Iceland, Ireland and politics. Where Are The Kings by Donal Ryan What a remarkable book this is. Ryan deals with suicide and mental health in such … Read More My Top 10 Books of 2026 – Part Three
My 4 Favourite Audiobooks of 2026 – Part Three
2026 has been a good year for audiobooks, so once again I am giving them their own post. I could have chosen all of them to be honest, but I only pick four each time. The Mourning Necklace by Kate Foster I’m a huge fan of Victorian Gothic mysteries so my first Kate Foster read The Repentants was a little early for me, set in Scotland … Read More My 4 Favourite Audiobooks of 2026 – Part Three
+ adventure, austria, fiction, gothic, Gothic mystery, Historical fiction, murder, review, supernatural, Victorian Britain
The Thief and the Labyrinth by Alys Clare A World’s End Bureau Victorian Mystery #6
A missing girl. A charming thief. And a case that doesn’t add up. November, 1882. American agents Henry and Johanna McClellan arrive in London on an urgent mission: track down Bruno Schmidt, a silver-tongued lecturer and suspected thief who has eloped with a young woman called Ava. Ava’s powerful father wants her home — as discreetly and quickly as possible. But the McClellans are … Read More The Thief and the Labyrinth by Alys Clare A World’s End Bureau Victorian Mystery #6
The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
An orphaned fortune teller in 18th-century England searches for answers about her long-dead mother and uncovers shocking secrets in this immersive and atmospheric saga perfect for fans of Sarah Waters and Sarah Perry. Cornwall, 1730: A young girl known only as Red travels with her father making a living predicting fortunes using the ancient Cornish method of the Square of Sevens. Shortly before he … Read More The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
The Beholders by Hester Musson
SOME HOUSES ARE HAUNTED BY THE LIVING June, 1878. The body of a boy is pulled from the depths of the River Thames, suspected to be the beloved missing child of the widely admired Liberal MP Ralph Gethin. Four months earlier. Harriet is a young maid newly employed at Finton Hall. Fleeing the drudgery of an unwanted engagement in the small village where she … Read More The Beholders by Hester Musson
+ 1960s, diary, family, fiction, grief, Historical fiction, Italy, loss, love, mystery, review, secrets
The Secret Diary of Rome by M.A. McLaughlin
A hidden diary. A story that’s waited a hundred years to be told . . . 1960, New York. Emilia Rinaldi restores broken books for a living. She knows how to bring lost stories back to life. The one story she cannot repair is her own. Then an unexpected gift from her late mother arrives — an antique music box containing a faded photograph … Read More The Secret Diary of Rome by M.A. McLaughlin
They Can’t Burn Us All by Cathryn Kemp
From the award-winning author of A Poisoner’s Tale comes a dark, feminist retelling of the most famous witch trial in 17th-century Iceland, perfect for fans of The Witches of Vardo and The Mercies Westfjords, Iceland. 1655 Þuríður Jónsdóttir has grown up praying to the old gods and watching her father and brother practise rune magic. But now, a witch-hunting craze is sweeping across the land of ice and fire, … Read More They Can’t Burn Us All by Cathryn Kemp
The Mourning Necklace by Kate Foster
Inspired by an infamous real-life case, The Mourning Necklace is an unforgettable historical novel from the Women’s Prize-longlisted author of The Maiden, Kate Foster. They said I would swing for the crime and I did. I wear the rope-bruise like a necklace. 1724. In a tavern just outside Edinburgh, Maggie Dickson’s family drown their sorrows, mourning her death yet relieved she is gone. Shame haunts them. Hanged … Read More The Mourning Necklace by Kate Foster
The Repentants by Kate Foster
Her scandal. His revenge. The unforgettable new historical novel from award-winning author, Kate Foster. St Monans, Fife, Scotland 1790. Two women are forced to publicly repent in church, one for adultery the other for breaching the sabbath. Wealthy housewife, Florrie, and salt serf, Eliza, form a quick and unusual bond over their mutual humiliation. So when Florrie’s husband decides she must accompany him on a … Read More The Repentants by Kate Foster
