England

  • Historical Fiction: The wives of Henry VIII

    Divorced, beheaded, died Divorced, beheaded, survived So much historical fiction relates to King Henry VIII in some way: his mother, his sister, his niece, his Church, his advisors, his children and his wives. Most of us have a blurred idea of who these wives were and which ones were executed, though many readers know Anne… Continue reading

  • Historical Fiction: While you wait for Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

    Hilary Mantel clearly hit a homer with Wolf Hall and her latest, Bring up the Bodies, both biographical novels of Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII’s chief minister for eight years until the king executed him for treason and heresy. The Library’s waiting list for “Bodies” is at 200. “What can we read while we wait”… Continue reading

  • London Calling: a Reading List.

    “London itself perpetually attracts, stimulates, gives me a play & a story & a poem, without any trouble, save that of moving my legs through the streets… To walk alone in London is the greatest rest.”   ~ Virginia Woolf, Diary, March 28, 1930. So you say your tickets to the London Olympics got lost the… Continue reading