Today, I'm delighted to welcome Paul Rushworth-Brown to the #HistFicThursdays blog as part his Coffee Pot Book Club 's book tour. Today, meet Paul's new book The Lost Voices , and discover your next great read! Read on to enjoy an excerpt from this gripping book! First of all, let's meet the book... Some lives pass through history without leaving a trace. The Lost Voices is a work of historical fiction that brings to light those whose stories were never formally recorded—not because they lacked significance, but because their lives unfolded beyond the reach of power, authorship, and recognition. This is the story of ordinary people forced into extraordinary circumstances—individuals navigating a rigid social order shaped by obligation, fear, and quiet resistance. Here, survival depends as much on silence as on action, and choices are made not in moments of glory, but in private, under pressure, and with consequences rarely acknowledged. The novel explores how perso...
I'm not a nature writer - I don't know nearly enough to pass myself off as one! But, as this month marks the #30DaysWild campaign, I thought I'd take you on a guided tour of some of my own observations of the natural world and how they impacted on my historical writing... First of all, there was that walk which led to the creation of Caledon . Yes, I've blogged about it so often I won't repeat it all again! But there are things in nature which capture your imagination. The Big Burn waterfall was one of those things for me. Writing the discovery which James made was easy to do because it was just how I had felt. Here it is: Somewhere, only a short distance from him, the sound of a waterfall could be heard, both heavy and gentle in a manner which made his head throb even more. It was the hard work and efforts of these falls which had carved out the ravine where he lay. The trees which had broken his fall on his way down, clung to the sheer sides and gave the April s...