When researching historical fiction, one of the hardest tasks is to discover those minor domestic details that transport your readers into the world of your characters. Here are a few resources I found invaluable when researching my novels...

I’ve learnt a few things about writing historical fiction during years of researching, plotting, drafting, editing, and abandoning novels, and here I share some of my discoveries...

A plot twist in The Suffragette's Daughter is based on a list produced by the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves. The Society was founded in 1912 and was the forerunner for the Wildlife Trusts we have in the UK today.

Percy Baverstock is a favourite character from The Suffragette's Daughter, so when I was invited to enjoy a cocktail with one of my characters, he was the perfect choice. We meet Percy at the Tequila Mockingbird Cocktail Bar...

In 1918, women under the age of 30 could stand for Parliament despite not yet having the right to vote in an election...

On 18 November 1910, 300 women marched to the Houses of Parliament. They were met by lines of policemen and crowds of male bystanders who attacked them for the next six hours. The day became known as Black Friday.

A reporter coined the term 'suffragette' to mock militant women who demanded the right to vote. But these militant women claimed the word and made it their own...

On 28 October 1908, Muriel Matters and Helen Fox chained themselves to the grille of the Ladies' Gallery of the House of Commons. This protest inspired events in my novel The Suffragette's Daughter. But why did the suffragettes hate the Gallery?

100 years on, mystery still surrounds the death of Mabel Greenwood from alleged arsenic poisoning in 1919...

Poison was a popular method of committing murder in 1920s and 1930s crime fiction. These are the decades considered to be the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, and cyanide, arsenic and strychnine were in plentiful supply in the novels of this period...