December 15, 2020
Anyone who thinks corruption in politics is a modern phenomenon needs only to research for a few minutes into the political systems of the past to realise that it has always been the case. Where […]
November 15, 2020
Throughout the ages, those in power have sought to raise revenue by various means. Broadly speaking, following the Civil War and Restoration, Parliament would determine the personal income of the monarch. If the ruler then […]
September 15, 2020
I found out about the Pascaline purely by chance, when writing my latest novel, The Ladies’ Tale: Caroline and Philippa, due to be published this month (September 2020). I was looking for an interesting but expensive […]
February 11, 2019
So far in my posts on this subject I’ve talked a little about the high-class prostitutes or courtesans, and about those who operated from private premises, either their own, or from a brothel run […]
January 28, 2019
In my last post I wrote about courtesans, but of course the vast majority of girls who entered prostitution as a way to make a living would not even dream of ever being a […]
January 14, 2019
Although many eighteenth century women were far from being docile and submissive, the laws were made by and in the main, for men, and consequently there were not as many career options for women then […]
December 31, 2018
Although I lived in England as a child, my Scottish mother always insisted that we celebrate New Year’s Eve in the Scottish way, as her parents and grandparents had. All bills were paid, the […]
October 15, 2018
A few days ago, in a rare moment of idleness, I decided to look through the reviews of my books. I leafed through them, delighted by the numbers of 5-star reviews from readers and […]
August 20, 2018
In my previous blog I wrote about Highland houses, how they were designed and built, taking into account the weather conditions and the materials available locally. But the subject wouldn’t be complete without saying something […]