Nonfiction
We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals
Gill, biographer of Florence Nightingale, turns her attention to one of the most famous marriages of 19th-century England, that of…
Constable in Love, Love, Landscape, Money and the Making of a Great Painter
When John Constable, a struggling young painter, fell in love with Maria Bicknell, daughter of a prominent London lawyer, it…
Freud’s War
Sigmund Freud has been extensively written about, but Helen Fry’s book concerns his life as a father to Martin, and…
The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia
The roots of the Mafia lie in Sicily, but one man—Giuseppe Morello—is primarily responsible for the rise of organized crime…
The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer (c1343-1400) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat. Best known for The Canterbury Tales he…
Testament of Youth
What more can one say about this classic autobiography? It is one of those books that absolutely everyone should read;…
Florence Nightingale
At the age of 17, Florence received a calling from God, and although she persisted in her quest to study…
The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession
During the 18th century, Britain moved from following the French and Italian styles of gardening to become the foremost nation…
The Last Crusaders
Barnaby Rogerson spent his childhood living on military bases around the world with his family. He played in the coves…
The Bolter
Frances Osborne, the great-granddaughter of Idina Sackville, has written a shockingly candid biography of a brazen woman who defied the…
About our Reviews
Over the last 20 years The Historical Novels Review (the society’s print magazine for our members) has published reviews of some 15,000 historical fiction books.
