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The Ambassador

Matt Rees, Yehuda Avner

The Ambassador is a revisionist historical novel set during World War II. It asks the question: What would have happened to the Jews if Israel had its own…

Assassin’s Mask: A Palace of Spies…

Sarah Zettel

It’s 1716 in England, and life is turning around for seventeen-year-old Margaret “Peggy” Fitzroy. By day Peggy is maid of honour to her Royal Highness, Caroline Princess of…

A Prisoner in Malta

Phillip Depoy

England, 1583: Brilliant young Christopher Marlowe is recruited by his friend Dr. Lopez and Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster, Walsingham, for a secret and important mission. Marlowe and Lopez must…

Winterwood: Rowankind, Book One

Jacey Bedford

Rossalinde “Ross” Tremayne is a young widow who took up cross-dressing to carry on her husband’s pirating career during the reign of Mad King George. She took to…

The Mad Boy Lord Berners My…

Sofka Zinovieff

This is both a charming and very well-written group biography, as well as a fresh examination of those eccentric, privileged and wealthy characters who were prominent in Britain’s…

Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye

Tania Del Rio, Will Staehle (illus.)

The Warren Hotel has been in Warren the 13th’s family for many generations. Warren is twelve, and after the death of his parents, his uncle Rupert manages the…

The Wedding Tree

Robin Wells

Hope Stevens is 31 and struggling to recover from a disastrous marriage when she is called home to Wedding Tree, Louisiana. Her grandmother, Adelaide, is in the hospital…

Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House…

Tom Holland

Dynasty is the story of a century of the Julio-Claudians and a hundred years of their cruelty in the pursuit of ever-expanding political control. The succession of rulers…

Legacy of Kings

Eleanor Herman

Book One of the Blood of Gods and Kings saga is a fantasy novel borrowing the marquee name of Alexander the Great to add to its allure. Historical fiction fans…

Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of…

Tracy Borman

Hilary Mantel’s award-winning novels have sparked a renewed interest in Thomas Cromwell, a man best known for engineering Anne Boleyn’s fall. Reading this superb biography, one sees that…

The Viscount Risks It All: Prelude to a…

Erin Knightley

Regency romances are wonderful escapism, but sometimes they get repetitive. If you’re looking for something a bit out of the ordinary, The Viscount Risks It All by Erin…

Sherlock Holmes and the Baron of Brede…

Daniel D. Victor

In the second of a new series “penned by” Holmes’ crony Dr. Watson (after The Final Page of Baker Street, 2014), Sherlock Holmes meets Stephen Crane: poet, journalist,…

Bounty of Vengeance: Ty’s Story

Paul Colt

Ty Ledger, former sheriff of Cheyenne, Wyoming, is on the trail of Patch, a half-Indian serial killer who murdered Ledger’s wife and unborn child. It’s 1877, and Ledger,…

Dialogue with Darcy

Janet Aylmer

We have all wondered at least once about Lizzie Bennet’s married life as Mrs. Darcy, haven’t we? Well, Janet Aylmer must have too, and she imagines Elizabeth’s first…

Albermarle

Jim Stempel

Albemarle is the story of a ship—and a battle for the control of a river—which had strategic consequences in the final years of the Civil War. A steam-driven…

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Features

Anne Charnock’s Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind Explores Past, Present and Future

JULIET WALDRON: Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind was not at all what I expected in the HNS context as it has been primarily marketed as literary science fiction. Your debut novel, A Calculated Life, was a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award in…

HNS Guide: Defining the Genre

There are problems with defining historical novels, as with defining any genre. When does ‘contemporary’ end, and ‘historical’ begin? What about novels that are part historical, part contemporary? And how much distortion of history will we allow before a book becomes more fantasy than historical?…

The Society

What is the HNS?

We are a literary society devoted to promoting the enjoyment of historical fiction. We are based in the USA and the UK but we welcome members (who can be readers or writers) from all round the world. Through our print magazines, conferences, website, social media and through the dynamism of our membership we help bring the excitement of these novels to the widest audience. Find out about joining us here.

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