Joseph Chamberlain spent decades blocking Irish Home Rule. His own brother Arthur ran the Birmingham factory supplying the Army's cordite, and was twice rescued from ruin by the very Irish nationalist leader Joseph opposed. Family loyalty, war profiteering accusations, and a truth about Ireland Arthur admitted to Sinn Féin's own founder: real history writes better plot twists than I could invent. Here's what it taught me.

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.

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