Alison Weir: Ramping up the proclamations – how Henry VIII dealt with epidemics

Forget one metre. Henry VIII’s idea of social distancing was seven miles. When he married his fifth wife, Katheryn Howard, in the hot, dry summer of 1540, there... Read More...

Silvia Moreno-Garcia on the real life town that inspired Mexican Gothic

One time I was asked during an interview whether it really rained in Mexico City as much as I said it did in one of my novels. It does rain and in fact parts of... Read More...

Three cards from The Deck of Omens that didn’t make it into the book

From the beginning, I knew I wanted there to be a deck of tarot-esque cards in The Devouring Gray duology, and I also knew that I wanted them to be a major worl... Read More...

Rosanne Hodin on the “tales from the good life” that inspired her memoir Growing Goats and Girls

We are leaving the farm, leaving two daughters behind, to volunteer in Africa. For three years. One manages a weak smile, “We’ll be looking at the same moon.” B... Read More...

Martin Edwards’ top ten thrillers

A good thriller makes a reader feel tense, anxious, and perhaps afraid. The thrills may accompany a mystery about character or a puzzle about motive – as in my ... Read More...

Menna van Praag on the real-world fairytales that inspired The Sisters Grimm and why we’re so enchanted by them

The Sisters Grimm was born with my daughter. I’d never directly approached writing or re-writing fairy tales before, but they’d always seeped unbidden into my w... Read More...

Fiona Collins on the nostalgia of classic movies

It can all get a bit much, can’t it, modern life – technology, politicians, the planet, trying to keep on keeping on with it all? Sometimes you just want to esc... Read More...

Liz Hyder on the inspiration behind her debut novel Bearmouth

Writing is a strangely solitary affair, sitting for hours at a desk tapping out words from the voices in your head. For me, the actual writing is the easiest pa... Read More...

Adrian J Walker on flawed characters and The End of the World Survivors Club

Readers don’t always enjoy what you write. Sounds obvious, but it bears repeating. Once, in a pub, a drunk man approached me. MAN: “Hey, you’re not one of tho... Read More...

Sara Alexander on the inspiration behind The Last Concerto

The Sardinian summers of my childhood were about food, vast numbers of family crowding around a table heaving with freshly prepared lunches, dinners and stories... Read More...

The mothers of bad mothers: Sherri Smith on the worst mothers of the thriller genre

In my novel, The Retreat, Katie Manning is a former child-star who endured a strained and exploitive relationship with her ‘stage’ mom. Mothers are our first... Read More...

The Warehouse author Rob Hart on living inside the economic empathy gap

Rob Hart's first standalone novel examines our day-to-day complicity in a system that prioritises cheap consumerism, conveniences and security over people's liv... Read More...