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g example of three such flakturm built during the war these fortresses boasted three meter thick concrete walls and housed thousands of people during air raids they also had huge cannons on their rooves to bring down enemy aircraft the exhibits from various museums were stored in the tower erected near the zoo the tour run by a speleology society certainly gave me a taste of what it would have been like to shelter in one of these goliaths as freyja did during the soviet siege author elisabeth storrs as you shared in your author s note the manuscript that became fables lies had a very long gestation period what kept you going and what continued leading you back to it ask my husband and he ll tell you i am very persistent i love escaping into both research and my imagination the genesis for fables lies was a contemporary novel i finished in 1994 after becoming fascinated with schliemann s life at that time mystery shrouded the disappearance of priam s treasure after the soviets insisted it was lost in transit in the chaotic aftermath of the war various theories were postulated as to its whereabouts or destruction including my rather improbable plot of locating it in suburban sydney imagine my dismay and delight when i read in the newspaper the russians admitted they d hidden the treasure for nearly 50 years my mystery became redundant and the manuscript was relegated to the bottom drawer over the next ten or so years i became obsessed with the etruscans which led to writing the three books in the a tale of ancient rome trilogy when those novels were finished i was drawn yet again to priam s treasure how had it come to be in the pushkin museum why had the russians lied about possessing it i dusted off the manuscript to rewrite it as an historical novel covering the true story of the trojan gold during ww2 researching a novel 30 years ago was a vastly different experience than now previously i d been limited to books in my local library now i had access via the internet to numerous german sources historians included the axis viewpoint rather than presenting the war purely from the western allies perspective i planned a simple plot featuring two female protagonists a german woman freyja striving to protect the treasure and a soviet trophy brigade major whose mission was to steal it however when i learned about the ss ahnenerbe i was drawn to tell a more complex story exploring himmler s master plan but i m currently writing the pinocchio door which will finally reveal the soviet side of the tale elisabeth storrs has a great love for history and myths she is the award winning author of a tale of ancient rome trilogy which was endorsed by ursula le guin kate quinn and ben kane now her obsession lies with trojan treasure and twisted germanic prehistory in her new release fables lies a world war ii novel elisabeth is also the founder of the historical novel society australasia and the 155 000 ara historical novel prize she lives in sydney with her husband in a house surrounded by jacarandas connect with elisabeth through her website or triclinium blog you can find her on facebook instagram goodreads amazon pinterest linkedin and bookbub subscribe to her newsletter for monthly inspirational interviews email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest posted by sarah johnson at 6 00 am 2 comments labels interviews monday april 20 2026 bits and pieces of historical fiction news writing frequent pieces about books brief reviews included involves a lot of multitasking at any given time i m typically reading one novel for review finalizing the content for another before turning it in by the deadline and serving as the editor for others reviews within the last few weeks in addition to finishing up three reviews myself i ve been developing questions and working on intros for two upcoming author q as on top of that i completed my service as a 2nd round judge for the historical novel society s 2026 first chapters competition which covered scoring and providing constructive feedback for fifteen entries and wrapped up editorial work on the may issue of historical novels review plus my full time librarian job it has been an interesting but dizzying experience shifting among multiple assignments within a short period of time i have two more reviews to do by the end of april so i m not quite done yet with this reading marathon in other news my starred review of maggie o farrell s land knopf june is out in booklist s april issue i enjoyed her hamnet and loved the marriage portrait yet land is even better opening on an isolated peninsula in western ireland in 1865 and focusing on one family s endurance of the tragic legacy of the great hunger and their deeply engrained quasi mystical relationship with their homeland it feels like the novel she was born to write and one only she could have written one of her main characters is based on an ancestor who created maps for britain s ordnance survey in ireland the walter scott prize shortlist for 2026 has been announced with five historical novels in contention for the 25 000 prize the pretender by jo harkin bloomsbury uk knopf us a pretender to the english throne during the wars of the roses the matchbox girl by alice jolly bloomsbury uk us a nonspeaking young woman with autism in 1930s vienna benbecula by graeme macrae burnet polygon uk biblioasis can us the aftermath of murders in remote 19th century scotland once the deed is done by rachel seiffert virago uk no us edition secrets pervade a refugee camp in 1945 northern germany seascraper by benjamin wood viking uk scribner us an unusual guest arrives in coastal northern england in the early 60s all five are written by british authors and the winner will be announced on june 12 this is a prestigious and well funded prize i haven t read any of the five yet in the past i ve had mixed luck with reading the winners and finalists some i found superb hilary mantel while others felt too self consciously literary for me i read colin mustful s publisher history through fiction substack about the cost of running a historical fiction conference with interest the first htf conference which was promoted as a small intimate event recently took place in beverly massachusetts and virtually as the volunteer who handled finances and registration for the first four historical novel society north american conferences 2005 11 i recognize many of the sentiments expressed in the post a lot of hope that if you build it they will come plus a big initial learning curve significant coordination and planning and a diverse set of expenses i ve read many positive reports from attendees the new york times has a feature article on titanic fiction gift link by novelist donna jones alward whose latest ship of dreams fits the category i remember a mini trend of titanic novels appearing in 2012 alongside the 100th anniversary of the ship s sinking and the subject continues to grab readers attention among the ones on her list i ve read the titanic survivors book club about a quirky mélange of individuals in pre wwi paris who have the distinction and good luck to have missed boarding the fatal voyage and can recommend it and also from the nyt an interview with nelio biedermann gift link whose debut novel lázár summit s s 2026 is a saga about an aristocratic hungarian family the author is a 22 year old swiss undergraduate student and i hope to read the book in due course email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest posted by sarah johnson at 4 30 pm 0 comments friday april 10 2026 a woman s adventures in gold rush california mary smathers unfamiliar territory reinvention is the name of the game in smathers fabulous epic of gold rush california which sees her heroine juanita castro de la cruz forced to reboot her life repeatedly while her forebears homeland changes before her eyes it s 1850 and juanita proud daughter of a family of californios hispanic settlers flees the monterey rancho previously owned by generations of castros deciding she can no longer act as manager for her former lover the yanqui who bought her late parents holdings she heads on horseback toward her married sister s home juanita s goal locate her teenage son joaquin who she d sent away before his resemblance to his irish father became obvious to his father s wife her sister and brother in law are troubled with the recent us invasion of california they need to prove ownership of their land they think she s crazy for seeking joaquin in the goldfields so after translating some legal documents juanita steals her sister s old dresses and silverware to sell and travels through a multicultural land whose future feels unsettled we were no longer mexico nor spain she cogently explains later and that in itself was a terrifying mystery juanita s inner strength seems designed for adventure something this impeccably paced novel offers in plenty from driving a mule train into the muddy chaos of mining towns to running a sonoma boardinghouse through mishaps and terrible danger juanita picks herself up again and again while accumulating a motley assortment of friends including a would be high society san francisco madam every time juanita visits the city the changes are dramatic will she find joaquin will she ever pay her sister back while juanita sometimes gets derailed she never forgets her objectives full of color and incident this on the ground view of early california through a brave woman s eyes is a thoroughly entertaining trip unfamiliar territory was published in 2025 by the author s own imprint mks publishing and i reviewed it initially for the historical novel society while it s described as a sequel to in this land of plenty 2020 it reads fine on its own i haven t yet read the first book which is a multigenerational novel opening in 2018 and focusing on a modern woman learning about her ancestry after which a saga about california s history unfolds i plan on getting myself a copy juanita is listed on the family tree of that novel s opening pages the author mary smathers is a california native and bilingual writer who has also written children s picture books in english and spanish i enjoyed reading her profile in canvas rebel speaking about her background perspectives on writing about historic california and approach to writing and publishing she also has a launch interview with the historical novel society that posted today for readers in search of other recent novels about the courageous independent women who populated the landscapes of the american and canadian west i recommend scanning through the website of women writing the west which also offers an annual willa literary award in the historical fiction category indie published and small press novels are well represented here as they are in the winners and finalists of the spur awards from western writers of america email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest posted by sarah johnson at 8 00 am 2 comments sunday march 29 2026 twenty years of reading the past some highlights and reflections i started posting regularly at reading the past twenty years ago this week in late march 2006 this was during the heyday of blogging the historical fiction blogosphere was a vibrant place with new reviews going up daily and avid discussions taking place online across the globe the publishing industry didn t know what to do with book bloggers these so called amateur reviewers who set their own rules and didn t answer to an outside authority newspapers book sections were being eliminated sound familiar and so the groundswell of individual enthusiastic online voices could no longer be ignored we had several hugely popular bookbloggercons in nyc held just before bookexpo at the javits center as well as meet and greet opportunities where i met reviewers and publicists i m still in touch with today the book blogging community is awesome in some circles though bloggers weren t exactly seen as respectable even by especially by many literary authors with new books out writer richard ford famously had strong opinions about bloggers to quote from the nyt article linked above are book reviewers out of print motoko rich may 2 2007 of course literary bloggers argue that they do provide a multiplicity of voices but some authors distrust those voices mr ford who has never looked at a literary blog said he wanted the judgment and filter that he believed a newspaper book editor could provide newspapers by having institutional backing have a responsible relationship not only to their publisher but to their readership mr ford said in a way that some guy sitting in his basement in terre haute maybe doesn t living here in the midwest on the outskirts of a small university town 45 miles west of terre haute this was starting to feel personal but these comments were more galvanizing than discouraging reviewing skill isn t based around geography bloggers continued to write and review as we d always done a corner of my bookish basement in the rural midwest it s not a bad place to be and now a couple decades later as publishers continue to adjust to the myriad ways books are being discussed and discovered individual voices have become more important than ever book blogs still exist of course though the terminology and format have adapted to reader preferences i remember the first time a few years ago i got an email from someone saying she enjoyed my historical fiction newsletter it hadn t occurred to me beforehand that my blog had become a newsletter but the posts did go out over email so a newsletter it now was i m happy with that for this major anniversary i decided to dig through the archive and highlight 20 odd posts that felt significant or memorable in some way or at least representative of the different types of content i d been writing these are in no particular order for longtime readers of this site some may be familiar but hopefully recaps from these older posts will draw your attention to interesting books you haven t read before in 2010 i interviewed author sarah dunant about her novel sacred hearts historical fiction about a reluctant new arrival to a convent in 16th century ferrara this was pre zoom for this low tech interview i phoned her at her hotel room on one of her us book tours arranged through her publicist and i scribbled things down as fast as i could years ago i wrote up a series of posts called reviews of obscure books covering novels that were super rare long forgotten or both i may revive it someday diana norman s witty and profound king of the last days set during the reign of england s henry ii is a book i wish would be brought back into print for a time it had been reissued as an ebook i believe but i can t find it anymore her adelia aguilar medieval mysteries written as ariana franklin set during the same era are easier to find a favorite review from 2007 for jude morgan s the taste of sorrow about the b...