Hill forts (updated)
Last year I posted a piece about hill forts which was inspired by Ailish Sinclair's rather wonderful book, Sisters at the Edge of the World. The story featured a vitrified hill fort. That’s a hill fort where stonework has turned to glass, probably because of intense...
James Brooke, John Williamson, and a free offer
Recently, I've written about the Williamson Papers and how much I would like to see them get a wider readership. The first book in the trilogy, The White Rajah, costs just £3.99 on Kindle (or you can read it free if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited). The White Rajah...
Fighting my way through 1812
I'm never quite sure which posts I write are going to attract a lot of interest and which are going to be passed over. Lately, I've been writing a lot about India and while my mini essay on the Red Fort got a fair amount of attention, others were less popular. I do...
Writing about Britain’s Age of Empire
I've been posting a lot about India over the past few weeks. I think people are getting a bit bored of it by now. (Let me know if I'm wrong. I have several hundred more photos to share.) Part of the reason for writing is just that, having finally made it to the...
A very short review of ‘Tipping the Velvet’
I've not been doing much writing over the last few months which has at least meant that I've been able to catch up on some of my reading. I've had Tipping the Velvet on my list of books I want to read for ages and now I’ve finally got round to it. There's an Afterward...
Loot! Look what our ancestors brought back from India.
When we were in India last month, we kept seeing signs in the various historical sites we visited suggesting that a lot of good stuff had been taken by the British in the 19th century and was now tucked away in various London museums. Back home, we decided to go to...
The Last Mughal
If you read last week's blog post about Delhi’s Red Fort, you will have seen a reference to William Dalrymple’s book The Last Mughal. I started reading this before we went to India, read some more while we were there, and then came home and finished it. From which you...
The Red Fort
More from my trip to India... One of the things I was particularly looking forward to seeing was the Red Fort in Delhi. I am particularly interested in the events of 1857, commonly referred to in England as the Indian Mutiny. My book, Cawnpore, is set during...
Jack and Jill Went Downhill
Another book review from me. It's a bit of a change from the sort of book I usually write about, being by R J Gould who, according to Amazon, writes contemporary fiction about relationships or, bluntly, romances. Jack and Jill meet on their first day at university and...
British India to 1857: The Rise and Fall of the East India Company
If you follow me on Twitter or read last week's blog post, you'll know I'm just back from a holiday in India. I'd like to blog about India while the country is still top of my mind. Last week I did touch on how the war of 1857 (the Indian Mutiny or the First War of...