Historical Fiction

1819. Work. Maggie Jones was expecting the rabble outside. It was usual. But the commotion coming from the kitchen? Now that was intriguing. The maid had only ever known Manchester. Within her lifetime, the place had expanded beyond her knowledge of it, but the space she would forever see as home was relatively small. The two-bedroom flat near the railway; her mother and three younger brothers; the smell of the engines. That was home. Since Maggie was twelve, she had worked i

Introduction Sat in the heart of the capital city of Lithuania (Vilnius) lays the Republic of Užupis; a district of the city that claimed independence from Lithuania on April Fools’ Day of 1998, although it has never been formally recognised as a separate nation. However, the small but momentous republic does come complete with its own border control, constitution, flag and governmental ambassadors, and plays an intriguing role in the history and culture of post-soviet Lithua

Morning. The 7th of July 2005, an ordinary Thursday by all accounts. As per usual, I was running late for work. This time quite literally. My train was late into Luton and then again coming into King’s Cross. By the time the train finally pulled in, people were practically leaping out of their seats. Passengers racing and jostling, all elbows and shoulders. Moving toward their next destination like cattle. I was heading for South Kensington, the V & A. Back then I was doin

I. There was no glory to be won after war was done. Qin, Han, Zhao, Yan, Wei, Chu, Qi. Six states, divided, following the end of the Zhou. Qin Shi Huang, leader of the Qin, had prevailed to unite Zhongguo under one ruler - the nation’s first emperor. When history is written, it also tends to overlook the events in the aftermath. After eleven long years, the nation was rebuilt. The streets that once ran red with the people’s blood were beginning to clear, with new bonds being

A short piece of historical fiction set in Reformation-era Suffolk, following Thomas, an illiterate wool merchant, as he confronts the whitewashing of his parish church’s medieval wall paintings under royal commission. --- Thomas could not read. He had never thought of this as a lack until the year the paintings came down. He was forty-three, a Suffolk wool merchant, and he had managed a household, negotiated with suppliers, raised five children, and buried two of them, all w