Simmering Stories: Robbie Cheadle Reviews When Secrets Bloom and I Share a Historical Recipe

When Secrets Bloom, historical fiction set in 143 Transylvania, an old book near a pot of sarmale

Some conversations are like a shared meal: nourishing, layered with memory and meaning. When Robbie Cheadle speaks about the books she reads she does so, with generosity. With Robbie, reading and cooking meet at the same table.

In her thoughtful feature of When Secrets Bloom on Latinos USA simple pleasures take centre stage: the turning of a page, the slow preparation of food, the way both acts bind us to history and to one another.

17/05/202617/05/2026

Fearless AfrikaBurn and Defying Vama Veche, Love from the Black Sea to the Karoo

sunrise at the Black Sea Vama Veche, in the Karoo desert Afrikaburn

There are places that tourists visit, photograph, and then forget. And then there are those places that get lodged in your heart for years. Like the sound and the sight of the sea just before dawn or the smell of smoke caught in a jacket long after the fire has died.

Vama Veche on the coast of the Black Sea, Romania, and AfrikaBurn in the Tankwa Karoo, South Africa, are such spaces.

12/04/202612/04/2026

Are Not Two Sparrows… on Easter Day

a sparrow taking a bath in dirt, garden birds

Today we celebrate the Orthodox Easter. I was reminded of these simple words: “Are not two sparrow sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father.“(the Gospel of Matthew 10:29) – the sparrow does nor fall into emptiness, but within a world still held by God.

01/03/202601/03/2026

Why Red and White Became the Colors of Mărțișor on March 1st

Red and white color my thoughts well ahead of 1st of March. In the Romanian tradition, on the first day of spring (in the Northern hemisphere), twined together, threads of red and white spring forward on Mărțișor day, quiet yet insistent. Unassumingly simple. Deceptively small. A charm no heavier than Spring’s first breath.

But red and white are never accidental. They’ve followed humanity across centuries and continents like faithful companions.

So why do red and white spell Spring?

27/12/202529/11/2025

18 Cities to Travel Back in Time and the Historical Fiction Books Opening Their Doors

Venture through the gates of ages, dare to time-travel and choose one journey to one of the 18 cities where history still breathes. Pick a historical fiction novel from the list below and walk the streets of ancient Rome or Athens; jump into the middle ages in Copenhagen, Jerusalem, Madrid; explore Renaissance in London, Florence, Prague; enjoy early modern life in Amsterdam or Geneva, Victorian Edinburgh or fin-de-siècle Vienna and Venice; read yourself into post-WW1 Moscow, or WW2 Lisbon and Paris, or deep-dive into the historical fiction of Dubrovnik and Budapest as if you belonged there. And if you are ready for more, there’s also a bonus read.