Vlad the Impaler and How Dracula’s Epic Shadow Was Made

Long before Bram Stoker wrote Dracula there was Vlad the Impaler: voivode of Wallachia, enemy of the Ottomans, ruler feared as much for his punishments as for his political cunning.

This is the Vlad who moves through the pages of When Secrets Bloom and Kate’s Letter, included in the Courage Anthology out 17 JUNE. Vlad the man, consumed by passions and hidden fears—not as a figure of legend already swallowed by bats and myth. A man still anchored in the hard geography of his own century.

20/05/202620/05/2026

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.

09/05/202613/05/2026

COVER REVEAL! Courage: Tales of History, Mystery and Hope – 17 JUNE 2026

I am so excited to announce a new historical fiction anthology coming soon, Courage: Tales of History, Mystery and Hope: 17.06.2026!

Courage includes Kate’s Letter, my short story set in 15th century Transylvania. This short story was inspired by the main character from my latest novel When Secrets Bloom and a historical character who needs no introduction: Kate Webber and Vlad Dracula.

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.

16/04/202617/04/2026

Even truth becomes blind when it refuses to look – When Secrets Bloom

Some stories are not built all at once. They gather in fragments. A line that refuses to loosen its grip. An image formed at the edge of thought. A truth that waits until it’s the right time to be released.

In When Secrets Bloom these fragments came first. This series of book quotes gathers those glimpses.