Elisabeth Storrs Historical Novels
Ancient Roman Historical Fiction
My latest post on the History Girls is about the legend of Queen Tanaquil, an Etruscan prophetess, who was the power behind the throne of two of the early kings of Rome. Tanaquil’s first prophecy was based on observing the flight of an eagle which is an example of the art of auspication ie divining the future from the flight… read more
I’m so delighted to welcome fellow ancient world writer, Zenobia Neil, this month. Zenobia was born with a shock of red hair and named after an ancient warrior woman who fought against the Romans. In college, she studied Ancient Greece, Voodoo, and world mythology. She writes historical fantasy about the mythic past and Greek and Roman gods having too much… read more
My latest post on the History Girls: The Legend of Tarpeia – a Roman Morality Tale explores how the legends of Roman women in the Foundation stories of the city are morality tales depicting a women as either paragons of virtue or the epitome of disgrace. They are victims who become the catalysts for revolution but never lead rebellion. Read… read more
My guest today is fellow Australian writer, Nigel Featherstone. His war novel, Bodies of Men, (Hachette Australia) was longlisted for the $60,000 2020 ARA Historical Novel Prize, shortlisted in the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards, and received a 2019 Canberra Critics Circle Award. His other works include the story collection Joy (2000), his debut novel, Remnants (2005), and The Beach Volcano (2014), which… read more
My first guest of 2020 is the wonderful Sarah Woodbury. With over a million books sold to date, Sarah is the author of more than forty novels, all set in medieval Wales. Although an anthropologist by training, and then a full-time homeschooling mom for twenty years, she began writing fiction when the stories in her head overflowed and demanded that… read more
My recent post on the History Girls explores the power of sound and light when interpreting portents from lightning bolts in Son et Lumiere – Ancient Portents. The Etruscans were expert. Read more
What to wear? An age old question. In my post on the History Girls, I examine The Quandary of What to Wear when it comes to clothing a prostitute, concubine and noblewoman. Read more
My guest today is award-winning author Judith Starkston, a classicist who feeds her obsession with the Bronze Age world of the Greeks and Hittites by writing historical fiction and fantasy. Her first novel, set in the Trojan War and told from the perspective of the captive woman Briseis, is titled Hand of Fire. She has just released the second book… read more
My very special guest today (and fellow History Girl) is Lesley Downer who has had a love affair with Japan ever since she first went there 40 years ago. In her books she tries to take readers to this fascinating, rather mysterious place and to open up aspects of its culture and history that people often miss. Her non-fiction book,… read more
My recent post on The History Girls deals with Ancient ‘Girl Power’ that dates back millenia. Compare the influence and eminence of Etruscan women to their Roman and Greek sisters. Read more…
