Little by Edward Carey is the story of Madame Tussaud, a dark and somewhat gory tale of the French Revolution. Marie, also known as Little, is orphaned by the age of seven, and then is apprenticed by Dr. Curtius, a man who has lived in solitude most of his life…

I almost gave up on House of Gold, a fictionalized story of the House of Rothschild. I stuck with it and however, and ultimately enjoyed it. It takes place in the 1910s –beginning around 1911 and through the first world war. The Jewish banking family it describes possesses branches in…

So I saw the new flick Papillon, and liked it so much I decided to reread the book, which I had read years before as a teenager. That didn’t disappoint either. So this is blog post about both the book and the recent film. An earlier edition of the film…

First off, she didn’t really say “Let Them Eat Cake.” Becoming Marie Antoinette is an insightful introduction to the life of the tragic queen. It covers the the time from when she was ten years old to her early 20s, after she became queen of France. …

So I thought I’d try something new. I signed up for Audible and downloaded West Cork — the company’s first True Crime production. It’s a podcast, but more than a podcast. It has 13 chapters and is over seven hours in total, and . . . It was a revelation. I’ve never really…

A special treat today at Magic of History. Colin Falconer, the author of 40 historical fiction books visits with us. His books have been translated into many languages, but you can find many of them on Amazon. Here’s our Q & A. 1. I’m a big fan of your books…

It’s been more than a hundred years since the Windsors took their name — and the Royal House of Windsor on Netflix tells the story very well, although it drags in a few places. It’s a six-episode documentary, and includes new material that has supposedly never been seen before on…

Bernard Cornwell’s War of the Wolf is the latest, but still not the final chapter of The Last Kingdom series. Uhtred is still riding against his enemies. He is now over sixty years old and a bit long in the tooth. Nevertheless, he’s still snatching victory from the jaws of…

Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis by Patti Callahan is a chronicle of a love story, and it works, to that extent. But somehow, the magic of C.S. Lewis is lost in the book. About two thirds of the way through the…