Hunting the Sun by Jean Gill – Beauty as Testimony

Power rarely announces itself. It shimmers inviting admiration while concealing the cost of its making – much like silk under candlelight. But history and human nature also suggest otherwise.

Ahead of an anticipated collaborative anthology, I’ve enjoyed new historical fiction authors and discovered what’s hidden beneath quiet surfaces. But when beauty is crafted under constraint, does it remain beauty… or does it become testimony?

Jean Gill joins our historical fiction anthology Courage: Tales of History, Mystery and Hope with a moving tale.

25/04/202612/05/2026

Real Places in Historical Fiction: Brașov in When Secrets Bloom

Biserica Neagra Brasov si Piata Honterus in fictiune istorica

There are cities in Transylvania that do not simply sit on the map, they remember. They carry the sediment of centuries like bark around an old trunk. Brașov, know as Corona or Kronstadt in medieval times, is one of those places. In When Secrets Bloom Brașov does appear only as a backdrop. It breathes. It resists. It watches.

Because to write about a place is to write against forgetting.

Readers will discover Brașov as a setting in my story Kate’s Letter featured in our historical fiction anthology Courage: Tales of History, Mystery and Hope.

23/04/202621/04/2026

Yet for all my knowledge I was still only a woman. And that was my crime. #bookquote

book quote for all my knowledge I was still only a woman that was my crime, When Secrets Bloom by Patricia Furstenberg

There are truths history rarely writes plainly about. Skill, in the wrong hands — or rather in the wrong body — becomes suspicion. And knowledge, instead of opening doors, invites them to close.

21/04/202613/05/2026

Hell Hath No Fury: The Story of Marguerite of Anjou by Judith Arnopp

I’ve been exploring a remarkable group of historical voices lately – ahead of a new anthology – and discovered what lies beneath quiet surfaces. Power rarely arrives gently. More often it is forced into unwilling hands demanding a price long before it grants authority. But, when survival demands transformation, when does need become something else entirely?

Our historical fiction anthology Courage: Tales of History, Mystery and Hope features a compelling contribution from Judith Arnopp.

18/04/202625/05/2026

Ascent: A story of danger, adversity, and love by Cathie Dunn

Empires are rarely born in triumph. More often empires rise from ruin — the smoke, broken walls, the lives abruptly unmade and forced into new shapes. But history and human nature also suggest otherwise. I’ve been exploring a remarkable group of historical voices lately and discovered what lies beneath quiet surfaces. When the world is remade around us, do we shape it in return… or are we shaped beyond recognition?

Included in our historical fiction anthology Courage: Tales of History, Mystery and Hope is a story by Cathie Dunn.