Susan Hughes's Blog

The Cabin at Bucks Mills in North Devon, a National Trust property, is rarely open to the public. It is a memorial to two local artists, Judith Ackland and Mary Stella Edwards, who followed the traditions of British romantic landscape … Continue reading →

One hundred years’ ago today, the Battle of the Somme – one of the Great War’s bloodiest battles – ended, having begun on 1 July 1916. On the first day alone almost 20,000 British soldiers died. To mark its centenary, … Continue reading →

Today I have the honour of welcoming Wendy Percival, author of the Esme Quentin mystery series (Blood Tied, The Indelible Stain) onto my blog. Wendy is also actively engaged in researching her own family background, which constantly throws up ever … Continue reading →

On this day, 23 June 1919, a memorial to eighteen London school children killed during a German Gotha raid during WWI was unveiled in Poplar Recreation Ground, London E14. Such memorials are each unique pieces of public art which link the … Continue reading →

I was pleased to be invited by Helen Hollick to write a piece for her Tuesday Talk slot on her blog, Let us Talk of Many Things; of Books and Queens and Pirates, of History and Kings… On it I … Continue reading →

I wanted to re-imagine a particular domestic interior which would be witness to confessions, secrets, and dangerous passions for my first novel. It had to be a middle class London town house, the sort a well-to-do manager in charge of … Continue reading →

My previous experience with my first novel showed me the importance and benefits of getting early critiques of my second novel. So last year I joined a writing group. Last time, the first eyeballs on my manuscript (other than my own) … Continue reading →

  Tower of London poppy 2014 Today is Remembrance Sunday. In Britain, it began in 1919 as a commemoration of the fallen of WW1, men whose bodies would never be brought home. Poppies, which grew in abundance in the field of … Continue reading →

When I picked out a hundred year old silk postcard from among my late grandmother’s possessions, I had no idea that it would lead me to a WW1 battle, a scandal which many believed caused the Liberal government to fall … Continue reading →

When I am at home I am often guilty of leading what I have come to call an ‘eye-level life’. Yesterday, for some unknown reason,  I broke this habit and found something surprising. The plaque commemorating the Bideford Witches. Normally … Continue reading →