I fell in love with historical fiction when I was a child. Adventurous talesâespecially if they had swordplay in them! And I was fascinated by young people having to choose whether to stand up for what they believed in or run away. Ordinary folk are forced by circumstancesâand villainsâto do the extraordinary. I empathized and felt like I could be one of them. So when I came to write, I wanted to tell those kinds of stories. I eventually realized what I wrote was 'the intimate epic'âshowing how the minor historical players can have a major effect.
I wrote
Plague
By
C. C. Humphreys,
What is my book about?
London, May 1665âOn a dark road outside London, a simple robbery goes horribly wrongâwhen the gentlemanly highwayman, William Coke, discoversâŚ
Diana Gabaldon is one of the best writers of 'intimate epics': tales of more or less ordinary people drawn into the flow and flood of real historical events. I especially enjoy her Lord John novels.
Making her protagonist at odds with the morality of his timeâLord John is an unapologetic (though necessarily closeted) homosexualâcreates extra tension in a work that sets Johnâand in this case, Jamie Fraser as wellâagainst the backdrop of the Jacobite conspiracy's death throes and the prickly honor code of the British Army.
Passionate, humorous, adventurousâall things that keep me turning the pages until the wee hours!Â
From the international bestselling author of the Outlander series, the terrific new novel featuring the ever-popular Lord John.
1760. Jamie Fraser is a paroled prisoner-of-war in the remote Lake District. Close enough to the son he cannot claim as his own, his quiet existence is interrupted first by dreams of his lost wife, then by the appearance of Tobias Quinn, an erstwhile comrade from the Rising.
Lord John Grey - aristocrat, soldier, sometime spy - is in possession of papers which reveal a damning case of corruption and murder against a British officer. But the documents also hint at aâŚ
Of course, the characters in this book are the stuff of legend: King Arthur, Guinevere, and the narrator of this tale, Lancelot.
But I think what is great about Mr. Kristian's approach is that he makes them all completely and recognizably human, with all the frailties and failings of ordinary people who are forced, by world events, to rise to the extraordinary.
Men who will be myths are, at heart, only men. A beautifully realized setting, a credible and incredible world for one of the great stories to play out against.
Conn Iggulden called it 'a masterpiece' while The Times hailed it 'a gorgeous, rich retelling of the Arthurian tale' . . . ________________
In Britain, Rome's legions are but a distant memory.
And Uther Pendragon is dying.
Enemies stalk the land.
Into this uncertain world a boy is cast - an outsider, plagued by memories of those he's lost.
Under the watchful eye of Merlin, the boy begins his journey to manhood. He meets another outcast, Guinevere - wild, proud and beautiful. And he is dazzled by Arthur - a warrior who carries the hopes of the people likeâŚ
Thirty-year-old Andie is struggling. Despite a fresh startâescaping an abusive ex and making a new homeâher old life reaches out to reclaim her. In desperation, she makes a wish and slips back in time.
The 80s are safer and have a reputation as simpler, but everything is different and new.âŚ
This book takes the lives of very ordinary Canadians and throws them into the maelstrom of war. I love that it carefully sets up a world few know aboutâToronto in the 1930sâand shows the ambiguity of the times, how anti-Semitism was at home as well as across the water in Europe.
I so enjoyed the Romeo and Juliet love affair at the novel's heart, and I was moved by the trials love is subjected toâas well as shocked by excellent descriptions of war's brutality.
Inspired by a little-known chapter of World War II history, a young Protestant girl and her Jewish neighbour are caught up in the terrible wave of hate sweeping the globe on the eve of war in this powerful love story thatâs perfect for fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
If youâre reading this letter, that means Iâm dead. I had obviously hoped to see you again, to explain in person, but fate had other plans.
1933
At eighteen years old, Molly Ryan dreams of becoming a journalist, but instead she spends her days workingâŚ
I often admire writers, and it is very rare for me to be outright jealous of one. But I was with this astonishing book. It was intimately epic in the complete sense. We focus on a wonderful cast of characters who lived in a small village in southern Turkey in the early 20th century for many years.
You fall in love with them, and they make you laugh out loud. Then, you are heartbroken as their world is destroyed by ceaseless war. Brutal, romantic, hilarious, and completely tragic, this novel pulls you apart. I felt I knew them all well and was bereft when I finished the book. I missed these flawed, funny, sad people. I still do!
Set against the backdrop of the collapsing Ottoman Empire, Birds Without Wings traces the fortunes of one small community in south-west Anatolia - a town in which Christian and Muslim lives and traditions have co-existed peacefully for centuries.
When war is declared and the outside world intrudes, the twin scourges of religion and nationalism lead to forced marches and massacres, and the peaceful fabric of life is destroyed. Birds Without Wings is a novel about the personal and political costs of war, and about love: between men and women; between friends; between those who are driven to be enemies; andâŚ
The Golden Promise of Cripple Creek
by
Mary Ellen Johnson,
When her wealthy politician boyfriend dumps her, disgraced social media influencer Maeve Mooney retreats to her family ranchâonly to tumble down an abandoned mine shaft and straight into 1901 Cripple Creek, Colorado.
It's a world of glittering wealth, gritty saloons, and ongoing tensions between miners and powerful mine owners. UsingâŚ
I had to go back to a classic from childhood, the first book I remember crying while reading. I didn't know reading could do that! Set against the backdrop of 1066 and the Norman Invasion of England, this takes an ordinary young man who stumbles into a war and chooses to fight for his country and his king. His realization that there are bigger things than himself and causes worth dying for moved me utterly.
This book shaped me as a writer. The idea of sacrifice and redemption is just so well done.Â
London, May 1665âOn a dark road outside London, a simple robbery goes horribly wrongâwhen the gentlemanly highwayman, William Coke, discovers that his intended victims have been brutally slaughtered. Suspected of the murders, Coke is forced into an uneasy alliance with the man who pursues himâthe relentless thief-taker, Pitman. Together, they seek the killerâand uncover a conspiracy that reaches from King Charles's glittering, debauched court to the worst slum in the city, St Giles in the Fields.
But thereâs another murderer moving through the slums, the taverns and palaces, slipping under the doorways of the rich. A mass murderer⌠Plague.
Two sisters. One opulent hotel. A chance to change everything.
For 17-year-old Clara Wilson, the glamour of the Roaring Twenties feels worlds away. With her family on the brink of eviction, Clara pins her hopes on a position at the grand Hotel Hamilton. But when her adventurous sister impulsively followsâŚ
A wild land too mountainous to be tamed by plows. A duke of the empire, his cunning overshadowed only by his ambitions. A young priestess of the Old Religion, together with a charismatic outlaw, sparking a rebellion from deep within the forests.âŚ
