Lucinda Hawksley

On Sat 15 Dec, I’ll be in Malton in Yorkshire talking about ‘Doctor Who and A Christmas Carol‘, as part of the Malton Dickens Festival. Tickets are on sale now.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/doctor-who-and-a-christmas-carol-tickets-52604411210?aff=efbneb&fbclid=IwAR236SDdEJft-DTt9mGsYY9IiqSQn8XbCnemeJP9FpXf8k4QWuhgB9FaQZY

On Thursday 22 November, I’ll be talking about Dickens and Christmas at Fleet Library in Hampshire. Tickets are available from the library.

Tickets are now on sale for a very special evening at the Charles Dickens Museum in London. 19 December 2018 is the 175th anniversary of the publication of A Christmas Carol. I am holding a celebratory evening, together with friends who will help entertain you, in praise of Dickens’s little ghost of an idea. You can buy tickets online, or from the museum itself. https://dickensmuseum.com/blogs/all-events/celebrating-175-years-of-a-christmas-carol

This Historic Royal Palaces blog is taken from my new book, Elizabeth Revealed: https://blog.hrp.org.uk/16-facts-about-the-queen/

You can buy my book from good bookshops or online from the publisher: http://www.scalapublishers.com/title.aspx?category=&subcategory=&id=3906

This is my new book! Elizabeth Revealed: 500 Facts about the Queen and her World is available now worldwide, published by Scala together with Historic Royal Palaces. You should be able to get it at your local bookshop, or you can order it online here: http://www.scalapublishers.com/title.aspx?category=&subcategory=&id=3906 (isn’t this a beautiful book jacket?)

On 19 December, the 175th anniversary of ‘A Christmas Carol’, I’m going to be leading two special Dickens and Christmas walking tours of London, the first at 10am (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dickens-christmas-tickets-52174894514) & the second at 2pm (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dickens-christmas-tickets-52174903541). Both are on Eventbrite and bookable now!

I’ll be talking about Lizzie Siddal, Kate Perugini and Princess Louise at the Red Lion Bookshop in Colchester, Essex, at 5pm on Tuesday 23 October. Come along and see the brand new updated version of my Katey biography!

http://www.redlionbooks.co.uk/events/

On 19 September, I’ll be talking aboout March Women March at Barking & Dagenham Library. Tickets are free but need to be booked in advance. https://ww2.lbbd.gov.uk/event/lucinda-hawksley-march-women-march/

My new walking tour, The Man Who Invented Sherlock Holmes, is happening on 20 October in London. Book tickets now:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-man-who-invented-sherlock-holmes-walking-tour-tickets-48009305124

Walk through the London of Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes – two fascinating men whose lives were shaped by the streets of this fascinating, and often lawless, city. Find out how Arthur Conan Doyle created the world’s most famous fictional detective, and how Sherlock grew into a literary phenomenon. The walk will begin at Regent’s Park and end near Covent Garden.

Book tickets now for my new walking tour, happening on Sat 28 July in London.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/william-morris-in-west-london-walk-tickets-48007198824

Walk along some of the prettiest river paths in London and discover the worlds of William Morris and his friends, as well as stories of feisty suffragettes, poets, designers, and ghosts of the old river. The walk will begin at Hammersmith station and end at Ravenscourt Park.

On 12 June, my biography of Princess Louise will be available on Audible (& you can pre-order it now): https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Biographies-Memoirs/Queen-Victorias-Mysterious-Daughter-Audiobook/B07DCZ3J8H

I’m looking forward to being a part of Festival No. 6 in Portmeirion this September. More info to follow soon. https://festivalnumber6.com/arts-culture/lucinda-hawksley/lucinda_hawksley/

Lucinda_Hawksley

Queen Victoria and her Tragic Family begins on TV in the UK this weekend, starting on Channel 5 this Saturday (19 May), for 3 weeks: https://www.tvguide.co.uk/detail/2994683/138685784/queen-victoria-and-her-tragic-family I’ll be on it talking about Princess Louise. Hopefully it’ll be shown elsewhere around the world soon.

Last night I had great fun chatting with the presenters of The Project NZ (on TV3) about my book Moustaches, Whiskers & Beards, and about the Auckland Writers’ Festival. If you can access facebook, you can watch this video of the interview: https://www.facebook.com/TheProjectNZ/videos/1223716704431647/

I am doing 2 events at the Auckland Writers’ Festival this month, if you’re coming along, come and say hello and get your book signed! More info here: http://www.writersfestival.co.nz

Tickets are now on sale for Also Festival, 29 June-1 July, “the best independent ideas festival in the country” – and I’ll be speaking there. (Wellies at the ready, just in case….) Find out more here: https://www.also-festival.com

At 7pm on 18 April, I’ll be talking about Bitten By Witch Fever at Wendover Library. Come & discover the history of #arsenic (wallpaper, murder, food colouring…). Tickets are on sale now: http://www.wendovernews.co.uk/event/lucinda-hawksley-2018-apr-18

Princess Louise was born 170 years ago today. Her life was fascinating to write about – even though my research was hampered by the mysteriousness of discovering the Royal Archives have closed off her files. Discover her story, available worldwide:

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1082082/the-mystery-of-princess-louise/

http://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250059321

On 8 June 2018, you can join me for Tea with Dickens, at Devizes Town Hall, as part of the Devizes Arts Festival. Tickets are on sale now:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/date/HJIEKH

I have fully updated my 2006 biography of Kate Perugini (née Dickens). Katey, as I came to know her, was a superb artist and a central figure in the late 19th-century art world; she was also my great great great aunt. This updated version was made possible by the many kind people who contacted me after reading my first edition of the book to share news about previously ‘lost’ paintings. Researching Katey again has been so fascinating. Her new biography is being published by Pen and Sword on 30 April 2018. If you order it in advance (link below), you will get a discount of £3:

https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Dickens-Artistic-Daughter-Katey-Paperback/p/14728

My other event at the Auckland Writers’ Festival in May is a workshop on “Writing Biography”. Tickets have just gone on sale:

http://www.writersfestival.co.nz/programmes/event/lucinda-hawksley-biography-writing/597989/

I am very happy to have been invited to take part in the Auckland Writers’ Festival in May. One of my events is a talk on my NPG book Moustaches, Whiskers & Beards, tickets go on sale today:

http://www.writersfestival.co.nz/programmes/event/moustaches-whiskers-and-beards/597829/

If you’re a member of the University Women’s Club in London, come along to my talk about Princess Louise on 22 November. If you’re not a member, call the number on the poster and if numbers permit you can also get a ticket.

On 31 October, I’ll  be talking about Bitten By Witch Fever for the Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution. http://www.hlsi.net/event/bitten-by-witch-fever-wallpaper-and-arsenic-in-the-victorian-home/

Planning a trip to London? You can download my walking tour and walk in the footsteps of Charles Dickens: https://voicemap.me/tour/london/charles-dickens-from-furnival-s-inn-to-doughty-street

On 21 December, I’ll be leading my newest walking tour, Dickens and Christmas, in London. Tickets have just gone on sale, so please spread the word: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dickens-christmas-walking-tour-tickets-38176856004?ref=estw 

On 18 November, I’ll be talking about Charles Dickens and his Circle at the Gibraltar Lit Fest:

http://www.gibraltarliteraryfestival.com/speakers/2017/lucinda-hawksley-62

Tickets are now on sale for my event in Broadstairs on 24 September with my friend & fellow author Hallie Rubenhold. Please spread the word, thank you.

Please donate to help those in the BVI whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Irma, thank you. https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/bvi-touristboardhurricaneirma

Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter, my biography of the sculptor Princess Louise, is now out in paperback in the US, published by Thomas Dunne Books.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250130365

On 13 September I’ll be talking about travel writing and my new book The Writer Abroad (published by the British Library) at Stanfords Travel bookshop in Covent Garden, London. Tickets are on sale now, please spread the word. http://www.stanfords.co.uk/event-the-writer-abroad-literary-travels-from-austria-to-uzbekistan

If you live in, or are visiting, London, you can walk in the footsteps of my great great great grandfather with my downloadable walking tour: https://voicemap.me/tour/london/charles-dickens-from-furnival-s-inn-to-doughty-street

I know it’s still only July but, at the moment, if you pre-order my upcoming book Dickens and Christmas (which is due out at the end of October), you’ll get £4 off.

https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Dickens-and-Christmas-Hardback/p/14004

This November, I’ll be speaking about my book “Charles Dickens and his Circle” at the Gibraltar Literary Festival.

http://www.gibraltarliteraryfestival.com/speakers/2017/lucinda-hawksley-62

On 24 September I’m doing an event in Broadstairs, Kent, with my friend and fellow author Hallie Rubenhold. Twitter has been making me laugh today, as it has been pointed out that the lack of a comma in this flyer has turned Hallie into my great great great grandmother…

This October, I’ll be speaking about Bitten by Witch Fever at the Warwick Literary Festival. Come along and found out how Victorians were being poisoned by their own homes.

This July, I’ll be one of the speakers at the International Dickens Fellowship Conference in Carrara, Italy. I’ll be talking about Dickens and the Pre-Raphaelites. http://www.dickenscarrara.it/en/programme/

In case you missed it the first time, here is my article on Charles Dickens and the Women Who Made Him:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/06/charles-dickens-and-the-women-who-made-him

Thank you to the Picton Little Theatre for inviting me to speak about Dickens in their beautiful Marlborough Sounds town, on the South Island of New Zealand. The theatre might be ‘little’ but the audience was huge! It was standing room only and a superb atmosphere (helped by the mulled wine, after all, it is Winter over here).

The Auckland Writers’ Festival was amazing and inspirational. Thank you to Anne and the team for inviting me. What an incredible week!

On 3 August, I’ll be leading a workshop on “Princess Louise and Other Remarkable Women” at the Gerrards Cross Summer School in Buckinghamshire.
http://www.gerrardscrosssummerschool.co.uk/ssprogramme/index.html#D58

I’ll be talking about Charles Dickens and his Circle at the Auckland Writers’ Festival on 19 May:  http://www.writersfestival.co.nz/programmes/event/on-charles-lucinda-hawksley/331132/ Tickets are on sale now.

I am so pleased to have been invited to speak about “Charles Dickens and his Circle” at the Auckland Writer’s Festival in New Zealand. My event will take place at 5.30pm on Friday 19 May; tickets are on sale now. http://www.writersfestival.co.nz/programmes/event/on-charles-lucinda-hawksley/331132/

Last night I launched my new book The Writer Abroad, an anthology of historic travel writing, from authors as diverse in time and style as Herodotus and Roald Dahl. It’s being published by the British Library on 23 February, this photo has just been tweeted by the library – the start of the book signing after the event.

Last night I was invited onto the Phil Williams Show on radio BBC 5 Live, to talk about my recent experience of being harassed by a male passenger, on a British Airways flight from India (an experience over which BA have really lost my former customer loyalty). Almost no airlines have made an effort to give their staff training about how to deal with, or help, customers who are assaulted on their flights and I was shocked to discover only THREE airlines even bother to record incidents of sexual harassment on their flights! http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08dnpmh

My next book, The Writer Abroad, is being published by British Library Books in February 2017. I’ve just received my first author copy and it looks beautiful, with such a gorgeously tactile cover. It is an anthology of historic travel writing and shows how much our view of the world has changed as travel and tourism have evolved. On 13 February, I’m giving a talk about it at the British Library. Tickets are on sale now.

https://www.bl.uk/events/the-writer-abroad

I’m excited to be speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival this month. I’ve just been reminded of an interview I did for The Times of India, when I was travelling there in 2011.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/India-would-have-inspired-Dickens/articleshow/8333050.cms

This weekend I was interviewed (by the magic of Skype) by Lynn Freeman on Radio NZ. We talked about my book Charles Dickens and his Circle. You can listen to it here, wherever you are in the world.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/the-weekend/audio/201829405/charles-dickens’-great-great-great-granddaughter

My article for The Guardian, on Charles Dickens and the women in his life.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/06/charles-dickens-and-the-women-who-made-him

In December, we had another successful Dickens festival in the pretty Yorkshire town of Malton  – where Charles Dickens’ younger brother, Alfred, lived. This photo is from our Saturday night panel at the Milton Rooms, on stage with Professor John Bowen (York University) and the brilliant Miriam Margolyes, both of whom gave superb performances. The festival raises money for the children’s charity Dickens’ Gift to Yorkshire.

Download my walking tour of London in the footsteps of Charles Dickens

https://voicemap.me/tour/london/charles-dickens-from-furnival-s-inn-to-doughty-street

An amazing review of Bitten By Witch Fever on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. It starts just after minute 15.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08558np

My new book for Thames & Hudson, Bitten By Witch Fever, was chosen by the Huffington Post as one of their eight best history titles of 2016. It traces the story of arsenic in the Victorian home, a poison which was used widely to create vibrant colours for wallpaper, furnishing textiles, clothes and even food – as well as becoming increasing notorious as a murder weapon.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/amy-licence/history-book-by-women-eig_b_13864956.html?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003

Listen to my podcast for Guardian Books, talking about arsenic in the Victorian home and my latest book, Bitten By Witch Fever, with Claire Armitstead. It starts at minute 3.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2016/dec/23/ruth-padel-and-lucinda-hawksley-books-podcast?CMP=share_btn_fb

I was invited onto BBC Berkshire on New Year’s Day, to talk about my new book “Bitten By Witch Fever” (Thames & Hudson), my interview starts at 1 hour 13 minutes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04ldm2t#play

My article on Dickens festivals around the world was published by BBC Culture. This December, I shall be back on Galveston Island, Texas, for the 8th year in a row, to attend the Dickens on the Strand festival. Come and say hello if you’ll be there too. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20141216-why-the-world-loves-dickens?

Tickets are now on sale for my talk on Charles Dickens and his Circle at the Isle of Wight literary festival next month. I’ll be speaking at 4.45pm on Saturday 15 October. http://isleofwightliteraryfestival.com/speaker/lucinda-hawksley/

As my next book will be coming out just before Hallowe’en, it seems suitable that it has the title of Bitten By Witch Fever. It’s about arsenic in the Victorian home, focusing especially on wallpaper. There are many gorgeous wallpapers reproduced in the book, all of which are from the National Archives at Kew – and they were all tested for the presence of arsenic as part of the project….

One of the most random moments in my life so far was being in a bar in Sri Lanka when my phone went crazy with producers from the BBC trying to contact me. They wanted to tell me the groundbreaking news that Nigel Farage had grown a moustache and to interview me in my capacity as author of Moustaches, Whiskers & Beards (published by the National Portrait Gallery). This is the resultant interview, which is on at minute 26, it’ll be available to listen to until 12 September. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07mvycv Sadly my comments about what my advice would be to Nigel Farage (which had nothing to do with his moustache) weren’t included.

I’m very excited to be taking part in the Ways With Words literature festival at Dartington Hall, in Devon. I’ll be speaking about my new book Charles Dickens and his Circle at 1.30pm on Weds 13 July 2016. You can book tickets here via their website:

http://www.wayswithwords.co.uk/festivals/ways-with-words-festival-of-words-and-ideas-at-dartington-hall-24/events/dickens–co-1793

I’m really looking forward to returning to the Hexham Book Festival. I’ll be speaking about my latest book, Charles Dickens and his Circle on the evening of Tues 3 May. More details here:

http://hexhambookfestival.co.uk/programme/lucinda-hawksley-charles-dickens-and-his-circle/

If you’re in Philadelphia this Saturday (30 April), apply now for free tickets to my author talk on Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter at the Free Library (which is also renowned as the home of Grip, Charles Dickens’s pet raven, who the author had stuffed after his sad demise).

https://libwww.freelibrary.org/calendar/event/57176

Books will be being sold afterwards by The Spiral Bookcase (http://thespiralbookcase.com).

Thank you to everyone at the Hudson Library and Historical Centre for a great evening on Tuesday – and thanks as well to the Learned Owl bookshop, for supporting the event and selling books.

I was thrilled to be invited onto the Robert Elms Show on BBC London radio as a Listed Londoner, the interview is online here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03lslkh

Today I was interviewed by the lovely Lynn Parsons for BBC Berkshire, about my latest book, Charles Dickens and his Circle (my segment starts at 2.08).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03lx806

On Weds 21 March, I’ll be giving a talk on “Strong Women” (inspired by the research for my book March, Women, March) at the Maggie’s Cancer Centre at Charing Cross Hospital, London W6. Tickets and more information on how you can support Maggie’s can be found here:

https://www.maggiescentres.org/how-you-can-help/take-part/all-events/celebration-women-support-maggies/

All proceeds from the evening are going directly to Maggie’s. Please spread the word, thank you.

At 11am on 4 March 2016, I’ll be one of Mary Beard’s interviewees in the documentary “Glad to be Grey”, on BBC Radio 4.

http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/d2cffg/glad-to-be-grey

I was interviewed about the history of Victorian beard dyeing, as the author of the book Moustaches, Whiskers & Beards rather than as a pogonophobe….

http://www.npg.org.uk/business/publications/moustacheswhiskers-beards.php

To celebrate the launch of my new book, Charles Dickens and his Circle, I shall be leading a guided walk around Dickens’s London, starting at 2pm on Weds 16 March, at Chancery Lane station. Tickets are available to buy in advance (please follow the link below), or feel free to email me (info@lucindahawksley.com) and reserve a place.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/walking-with-dickens-tickets-20888861146

On the evening of Weds 16 March, I’ll be talking about my new book, Charles Dickens and his Circle, at the Charles Dickens Museum, 48 Doughty Street, London. Tickets are now on sale (& must be booked in advance).

http://dickensmuseum.com/blogs/all-events/89994054-an-exclusive-evening-with-lucinda-dickens-hawksley

Attendees will also have the exclusive chance to see around the museum at night.

On the evening of Thurs 10 March, I’ll be launching my new book, Charles Dickens and his Circle, with a lecture and book signing at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Tickets must be booked in advance.

http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/late-shift-1/lecture-10032016.php

On the evening of Wednesday 9 December, I’ll be talking about Princess Louise & signing copies of Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter at Booktowne in Manasquan, New Jersey.

http://www.booktowne.com

Please spread the word and please come along if you’re based in Philadelphia, New Jersey or New York.

On Weds 2 December (5pm-7pm) I’ll be talking about Princess Louise and signing copies of Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter at the River Oaks Bookstore in Houston, TX.

http://www.riveroaksbookstore.com/cal-01.htm

http://www.npg.org.uk/business/publications/charles-dickens-and-his-circle.php

I’m thrilled to be joining fellow Dickensians Miriam Margolyes (who needs no introduction!) and Professor Michael Slater at the new Dickens & Christmas festival in Malton, Yorkshire, this December. I’ll be speaking at the Talbot Hotel on the afternoon of Saturday 19 December. Tickets are available now.

http://m.gazetteherald.co.uk/news/13847435.Harry_Potter_star_headlines_new_Dickens_festival/

My biography of the sculptor Princess Louise is being published in North America this December, by St Martin’s Press in New York City:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-250-05932-1

I will be in NYC for a couple of days in December, so please get in touch if you would like to arrange an interview.

Thank you to the staff of Conrad St James hotel in London for a perfect purple, white & green evening. I spoke about March, Women, March and the film Suffragette with Dr Helen Pankhurst (great granddaughter of Emmeline and Richard Pankhurst and granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst), in the hotel’s aptly named Emmeline room. The ticket price included a donation to the charity Helen works for, Care International.

http://www.careinternational.org.uk

If you were in the audience, thank you, as you were a great audience to talk to – and you came up with fascinating questions.

My latest book The Victorian Treasury is coming out with Carlton Books on 8 October and is available now to pre-order:

http://prionbooks.co.uk/books/products/a-victorian-treasury-out-08-slash-10-slash-2015

On 16 September I’m doing a talk on Lizzie Siddal, for the UK Friends of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, at the Cafe Royal in Piccadilly, London, tickets are available here:

http://www.ukfriendsofnmwa.org/event/salon-series-lucinda-hawksley-on-women-pre-raphaelites/

On 28 April I will be talking about Charles Dickens’s travels in Italy at the Keats-Shelley House in Rome. Many people aren’t aware that Dickens and his family lived in Italy for a year, residing in Genoa, and that he travelled widely around the country researching his second travelogue, Pictures from Italy.

http://www.keats-shelley.co.uk/events/events

At 7pm on 11 February, I’ll be talking about John Singer Sargent at Bristol Art Gallery. Tickets are just £3. More info here:

http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/whats-on/john-singer-sargent-life-lived-canvas/

I’ll be talking about March, Women, March in Winchester on the evening of Friday 13 February:

http://www.winchester.gov.uk/events/details/11854

On Tuesday 28 April, I’ll be in Rome to give a talk at the Keats-Shelley House, more info to follow soon:

http://www.keats-shelley-house.org

My latest article for BBC Culture on the fascination with Charles Dickens all over the world:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20141216-why-the-world-loves-dickens

My first interview since the publication of Moustaches, Whiskers & Beards:

http://www.beardrevered.com/interviews/what-the-dickens-moustaches-whiskers-beards/

My upcoming book is my first title for National Portrait Gallery publications. It looks at the history of facial hair from cave men to Conchita Wurst and uses some of the gallery’s best, worst and most hilarious examples of facial hair in portraits (not only of men, there are also a couple of women within its pages). The book is coming out on 20 October and you can find out more here:

http://www.npg.org.uk/business/publications/moustacheswhiskers-beards.php

My episode of Secrets From The Clink is on ITV Player (I’m in the later sections of Michelle Collins’ story about debtors’ prisons):

https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/secrets-from-the-clink/series-1/episode-2

The beautiful paperback edition of The Mystery of Princess Louise is now available to pre-order.
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/lucinda+hawksley/the+mystery+of+princess+louise/10427142/

On the morning of 22 October 2014, I’ll be doing a fundraising talk about The Mystery of Princess Louise, in aid of Parkinson’s UK at the Cadogan Hall in Chelsea, London.

On the evening of 22 October 2014 I’ll be speaking about Pre-Raphaelite Women at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow. Tickets will be available from the gallery nearer the time.

I’m very pleased to have been asked to give a fundraising speech for an inspirational new charity, Spark Inside:

http://www.sparkinside.org

The talk will be on Dickens and Prisons and will take place on 3 November. More information to follow.

Off to the Wisbech Festival today to talk about The Mystery of Princess Louise.

http://wisbechartsfestival.org.uk/talks/talk-the-mystery-of-princess-louise/

Come along to the Wisbech Arts Festival next week. I’ll be speaking about Princess Louise’s friendship with Octavia Hill at 2pm on Thurs 15 May. Follow the link and the eagle-eyed amongst you will notice they have spelt my name incorrectly…

http://wisbechartsfestival.org.uk/talks/talk-the-mystery-of-princess-louise/

Tickets are now available from The Ruskin Society for my talk on 12 May on Ruskin, Dickens & the Pre-Raphaelites. It’s at 7pm at the Artworkers’ Guild in Queen Square, London.

http://www.theruskinsociety.com/Events/2014-05-12_Flyer.pdf

I was thrilled to be asked to deliver the inaugural lecture for Chwarae Teg at Cardiff University this week, here are some pictures of what was a great evening: http://www.flickr.com/photos/65772356@N06/sets/72157642335439763/

Thank you to Chwarae Teg and GRO Cardiff for inviting me and to the audience for being so enthusiastic.

My biography of the sculptor Princess Louise is “Book of the Month” in the latest edition of Majesty magazine. It is described as: “Spirited and lively, The Mystery of Princess Louise is richly packed with arguments, intrigues, scandals and secrets, and is a vivid portrait of a princess desperate to escape her inheritance”.

Princess Louise merits eight pages in the latest edition of Royalty magazine! Jonathan Taylor’s great review ends with the words: “With royal biography the reviewer’s task can sometimes be a disappointing one, faced with little more than the updated retelling or, worse still, hagiography. The Mystery of Princess Louise stands out as a bold and insightful portrait of a remarkable woman.”

My talk about the language and images of propaganda in the First World War (delivered for the British Council and the English Speaking Union) is available to watch on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWPq8bgezt22yCpewJYizVHmjbOS46MpC 

Rachel Crossley in The Observer writes of my biography of Princess Louise: “I was … far too caught up with this improbable princess, a beautiful, charming woman who loved to bicycle and to smoke, who was always happy to share her recipe for oyster path and who holidayed, at the end of her life, in Sidmouth, where she enjoyed the table d’hote at the exclusive Fortfield hotel.”

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/29/mystery-of-princess-louise-review

I was thrilled that The Times made The Mystery of Princess Louise their Book of the Week last week and this week she’s their Critic’s Choice. Thank you! Find out more here:
http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/editions/the-mystery-of-princess-louise-queen-victorias-rebellious-daughter/9780701183493