It’s been a women-history themed month for both my non-fiction and fiction reading with Wendy Moore’s Endell Street: The Trailblazing Women Who Ran World War One’s Most Remarkable Military Hospital and Old Baggage by Lissa Evans. Endell Street: The Trailblazing Women Who Ran World War One’s Most Remarkable Military Hospital , Wendy Moore (Atlantic Books, 2020) This is a fascinating and well-written account of the work of doctors Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson who treated war casualties during the First World War, first in France and then in London where they established the military hospital at Endell Street. The women had both been active in the militant suffrage campaign – Louise Garrett Anderson had spent a month in Holloway for window breaking. It’s a remarkable and inspiring tale of how the women and their all-female staff overcame prejudice against women doctors and medics – for example, that men would not wish to be treated by women, that women couldn’t perform

I’ve often wondered why owning the signature of someone you admire or are interested in is so appealing. I supposed it is because a signature feels like a part of the person concerned, something produced by their own hand. It can also feel intensely personal if it is dedicated to you, which is why so many people ask authors to write their own names – “to so-and-so” – at a book signing. Cicely Hamilton's Autograph I’ve never collected signatures but I have acquired one or two over the years. Recently I obtained this signature by writer and suffrage campaigner Cicely Hamilton. It was probably sent to someone who had written to her and requested her autograph. Cicely Hamilton (1872-1952) is one of my favourite authors. A novelist, playwright and actress, she found fame with her 1908 play Diana of Dobson’s . She was a member of the Women’s Freedom League, formed after a split within the WSPU in 1907, and the Actresses’ Franchise League. She also worked with both the WSPU and th

Alison Morton, author of the stunning alternative history Roma Nova series, and Helen Hollick, whose historical fiction ranges across the centuries from King Arthur to pirates of the Caribbean, have both taken exciting steps into new genres. I recently eavesdropped on them in conversation during their current Blog Tour, talking about the challenges and rewards of moving in new directions...   Thank you, Lucienne, for hosting a stop on our joint tour for our new released mystery/thriller novels Double Identity by Alison Morton and A Mirror Murder by Helen Hollick. Helen: It was quite coincidental that we both decided to branch out from our usual genres into mystery/thrillers at more or less the same time, wasn’t it Alison? My A Mirror Murder is a novella ‘cosy mystery’, while your, Double Identity is a fast-paced thriller. What they have in common is the theme of investigating a murder. Alison: I wanted to write a character with strong roots in France, which is where I live. Ma