All Posts

Settling into a story that spans generations brings a complexity of rewards. Watching the drama unfold over generations, how global events affect them or changes social history. Sara Fox explores the joy of the historical family saga.

Victorian Birmingham, where industry swallowed the green spaces and Joseph Chamberlain reshaped a city. Discover respectable leisure and the history behind Birmingham Botanical Gardens, then meet Angelina: an Irish Romani midwife and layer-out of the dead, as she experiences the gardens for the first time. An exclusive excerpt from my forthcoming historical novel Angelina, set against the grit and magnificence of 1870s Birmingham.

Not every father is the one who raises you. Some of them find you later, when you need them most, and love you in exactly the way you need to be loved; even if they don't know that's what they're doing.

Joe Murdoch - a Found Father Just a sentence in my father’s notes gave me the character Joe Murdoch. That's all I had to build what was the most influential character in Matthew's story. I knew that Joe's name had been passed down from Matthew, himself, to his son and his grandson and finally to my father. They were accurate, but could I find anything about the real Joe? No. That was it. No date. No description. Just a name, sitting there like a seed in the fertile soil of my

Charlotte Beck was intelligent, intuitive and affectionate. She knew that Matthew mattered. Her character was inspired by my Border Collie Bec, read on and you'll see why.

The Baskerville typeset is known around the world and a product of Birmingham's John Baskerville. He invested £600 (£100,000 today) into this project before he liked even a single letter. Historical fiction author, Sara Fox, explores more about this remarkable story of obsession which created another legacy for Birmingham.

Small characters with a big impact. Both Bert and Nigel were the men Matthew Seller needed to become a man himself.

Eliza Tinsley was a Black Country Victorian widow left with a choice. She chose to build her husband's business and created a local empire.

Would you like to be part of a book's journey to publishing? ARC Readers are the treasures in an author's tool box

When I set out to write a historical fiction book, I was so worried that I’d be writing a dull, dry tome, but I need not have worried — my characters had other plans. In no time at all, they took control of the story and showed me how to find the humanity in the grit.

Being the great, great, great granddaughter of Matthew, I do like to set myself a challenge! Those who follow me on social media will know that I've left my publisher and embarked on a journey as a self-published author. I learned very quickly that publishing is a minefield and you have to learn so many new skills. I also learned that publishing houses vary from one to another. The publisher I was with did not edit, proofread, launch or market the book, other than sending (at