Gertrud at seventeen years was a year shy of ending compulsory membership to Hitler’s female Youth League, the Bund Deutscher Mädel. Soon she would be free of the repetitive marching practice and the stupid domestic classes that aimed to turn her into a diligent Aryan wife and mother. Neither matched her self-image of adventurer andContinue reading “Fran Collins: Gertrud”
Category Archives: Historical Fiction
Edie Eicas: Lithuania Teutonic Knights
She knew they were coming. It was gossip from Vilnius. Some listened while others ignored. Her village prayed, hoping Deivas protected them. Fear swept through Kaunas as news of the Teutonic Knights’ massacres reached them. Stories of carnage arrived with fleeing villagers, and many began to worry. These murderers were stomping through Lithuania from PrussiaContinue reading “Edie Eicas: Lithuania Teutonic Knights”
David Hope: Mistaken Identity
It’s a dark night in Whitechapel in August 1888. Through the gloom, an observer watched the two figures struggling. Martha Tabram was fighting for her life on a staircase in George Yard. A fight she was losing as her assailant stabbed her again and again. The knife rose and fell, rose and fell, on andContinue reading “David Hope: Mistaken Identity”
Jean Stewart: Ambition
‘Pull tighter while I hold my breath, Macy!’ The maid blushed as she strained the corset strings; this girl would surely faint. Cressida had sipped only a cup of morning tea and a bowl of soup at midday. It was the eve of the most important ball of her young life. In the spring ofContinue reading “Jean Stewart: Ambition”
Nell Holland: The Journey
This fictitious journal was inspired by Malen Rumbelow, passenger on the former convict ship. His diary was partially reproduced in the 1977 “Chronicle Cameos” publication The houses and people were smaller each time I turned my head to look, until all that remained was a curlicue twixt sea and sky. The shore receded, but ourContinue reading “Nell Holland: The Journey”
Don Sinnott: Anchored in Thames Estuary – September 1843
The story so far… John, the carpenter on a ship leaving London bound for Adelaide, has noticed an attractive young woman, Bess, on deck among the steerage passengers who boarded the day before. He’s approached her and tried to impress by referring to their route, with apparent knowledge, to the colony of South Australia. SheContinue reading “Don Sinnott: Anchored in Thames Estuary – September 1843”
Nell Holland: Iolaire-The Gaelic Eagle
The most venerated date for all Scots is Hogmanay, the last day of December. It’s the night to feast the old year out and welcome in the new one, and in no place is it more celebrated than the Outer Hebrides. By the end of the Great War, the Isle of Lewis had lost overContinue reading “Nell Holland: Iolaire-The Gaelic Eagle”
Don Sinnott: January 1844*
A sailing ship, the Augustus, leaving Adelaide under a captain Duff and scratch crew has grounded off Encounter Bay and the captain has returned to shore in a rowboat to seek more crew members. The previous captain, Hart, and his crew have left belongings aboard which now must be retrieved. The two captains rent aContinue reading “Don Sinnott: January 1844*”
Nell Holland: Calladine
The Calladine brothers volunteered to fight in World War 2. Albert and Sid were killed, and George returned without legs. Tommy was ‘lucky’ with no obvious wounds, though his mind was gnawed with distress; folk called it shell shock. In 1940 Tommy had been a self-assured eighteen-year-old, charming old ladies attracting girls and breaking hearts.Continue reading “Nell Holland: Calladine”
Burnside Writers Group 