Stoneleigh Community Library is run by a group of dedicated volunteers. I'm delighted to have been able to donate my books - the contact was made through @historia-hwa.bsky.social @zaffrebooks.bsky.social @fairlightbooks.bsky.social @romaunce.bsky.social #Histria #writingcommunity #historicalfiction
07.03.2026 20:37
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Very good news from @fairlightbooks.bsky.social #TheMaidenofFlorence is number 1 #bestseller currently on Amazon US kindle for Italian #historicalfiction. And there's an ebook discount for US readers until Thursday. I'm up there with John Banville and Kate Quinn! #writingcommunity
02.03.2026 13:26
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I'm touched that you quoted me on the cover of Annie's Day. π»
02.03.2026 13:18
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My #bookreview of Bill Hodson's Worktown for @histnovsoc.bsky.social historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/work... #historicalfiction #1930s #bolton the lives the volunteers assiduously recorded on paper... are recounted with an empathy both uncompromising and devoid of sentimentality.
08.02.2026 21:24
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My #bookreview Richard Dennis's Rumbling of the Waters @histnovsoc.bsky.social #historicalfiction #1920s 'an absorbing historical and psychological thriller... warning of what happens in a democracy when the rule of law is subverted and instrumentalised.' historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/the-...
07.02.2026 14:45
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My #bookreview of Martin Campbell's The Insanity Inspectors for @histnovsoc.bsky.social 'Individual case notes are heartrending, taking the reader into a world remote in time and geography' #historicalfiction #scottishhistory #insanity historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/the-... #victorian
06.02.2026 10:34
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My #bookreview of Rosemary Griggs 'The Mistress of Dartington Hall' for @histnovsoc.bsky.social 'Griggsβs achievement lies in her ability to evoke vividly an intimate portrait of life in a 16th-century West Country manor house' historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/mist... #historicalfiction #devon
05.02.2026 11:18
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My #bookreview Pnina Shinebourne's Love in the Time of the Medici for @histnovsoc.bsky.social: a tragic story, in which Livia is punished for her attempt to exercise free emotional will in defiance of patriarchal convention #historicalfiction #renaissance historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/love...
04.02.2026 20:09
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It's a splendid book, Livi!
04.02.2026 20:03
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It's a marvellous book!
03.02.2026 23:18
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My #bookreview of @livimichael.bsky.social's Elizabeth and Ruth @saltpublishing.com for @histnovsoc.bsky.social historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/eliz... #historicalfiction #victorian #manchester 'the best-intentioned philanthropists...saw frailty and weakness where they ought to have seen heroism'
03.02.2026 21:21
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My #bookreview of Mike Hollow's The Bloomsbury Murder for @histnovsoc.bsky.social historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/the-... #cosycrime #noir #historicalfiction 'This is cosy crime at its best, confidently written and painstakingly researched'
02.02.2026 14:52
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Thank you, Susan (and haven't forgotten that read...)
07.12.2025 12:53
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Something to do over Christmas, people. #Flashfiction #competition with the Florentine Literary Society; 150 words inspired by Florence (not hard, surely?) and your work could feature in @theflorentine.bsky.social www.theflorentine.net/2025/10/31/f...
07.12.2025 12:52
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No, I've not been sulking about being pipped to the post by none other than Kevin Barry for @historia-hwa.bsky.social Gold Crown award; I've just been madly busy. I'd a great time at the awards evening and was so pleased to have made it to such a stellar #shortlist #historicalfiction #irishwriting
07.12.2025 12:44
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My #bookreview of @annaluciaauthor.bsky.social's Broken Madonna #historicalfiction #italia for @histnovsoc.bsky.social historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/brok... 'a lyrical, elegiac and empathetic portrait of a small-town community and a vanished way of life'
02.11.2025 12:59
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My #bookreview of John Banville's Venetian Vespers @faberbooks.bsky.social for @histnovsoc.bsky.social 'This tour de force of a novel has all the creeping menace of The Turn of the Screw' #historicalfiction #irishwriting historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/vene...
02.11.2025 12:55
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Thank you!
15.10.2025 19:03
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I am over the moon!
15.10.2025 13:14
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Gulp! #TheMaidenofFlorence made it onto the #shortlist! #historicalfiction @historia-hwa.bsky.social Thank you @fairlightbooks.bsky.social for believing in this book and to @irishwriterscentre.bsky.social for the residency that made it possible #firenze #renaissance #irishwriting #writingcommunity
15.10.2025 12:24
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Oh what a great day this is! The Maiden of Florence has made the last 12 on the @historia-hwa.bsky.social Gold Crown award #longlist! #historicalfiction #renaissance #Firenze @fairlightbooks.bsky.social
17.09.2025 16:41
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βͺ
A perfect day... end of season at the beach, with a great book:
@catherinekullmann.bsky.social's latest, #LordFredericksReturn, elegantly written #Regency #historicalfiction #bookrecommendation
01.09.2025 21:23
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Thirty years ago today (well, in about an hour's time, to be exact). I have been so lucky. #weddinganniversary
29.08.2025 09:41
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Feast day of St Rose of Lima, holding the baby in this altarpiece by Giambattista Tiepolo, in the church of the Gesuati, on the Zattere, in my most loved city #Venezia She's with other Dominican saints, Catherine of Siena (left) and Agnes of Montepulciano (seated) #Italianart #rococo
23.08.2025 12:03
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The #feastday of San Rocco (Roch), invoked against the plague since the 14C; he caught it nursing victims. Painted by Giovanni Santi (father of Raphael) showing the plague sore on his leg and by Bernardo Strozzi with the dog who brought him food, and Sebastian, another plague saint #italianart
16.08.2025 10:45
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Thank you!
06.08.2025 14:32
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Oh yes, I am pleased about this! #exam #German @edinburghcollege.ac.uk
05.08.2025 10:56
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My #bookreview of @elodieharper.bsky.social's Boudicca's daughter for @histnovsoc.bsky.social @apollopublishers.bsky.social historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/boud... #historicalfiction 'a compelling account of what happens in the red mist of vendetta'
04.08.2025 11:00
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Do! Then I can pounce on it the moment it gets onto the HNS lists.
03.08.2025 20:37
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