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...
There are very, very people I could write and write about, but Savonarola is one of them. In fact, last year, I wrote a c.160,000 word observation about my own journey into his life and preachings. This appealed to the theologian in me as well as the historian! Shockingly, despite spending years studying RE and Theology across various levels of education, Savonarola was not a character I had come across until very recently. I've suppose this is because his work did not directly influence my areas of study, but I remain quite surprised that he never cropped up in my education. And here's why: although geographically he never left Italy - and northern Italy at that - his preaching and the awareness he raised concerning the direction of the church was to send shockwaves across the Christian world. He is the most fascinating character to write in fiction, too. Driven entirely - and often perilously - to do what he believed was right, he was not open to disagreement. But one of the...