I attended my first Historical Novel Society conference in Manchester on Sunday and it was an exciting experience. The day whizzed by and I wished that it could just go on and on. I listened to some very interesting speakers, met other historical writers and learned a bit about the publishing world. My horizons were stretched beyond the recent Irish past as I talked to people who write about other time periods and places. One of the pluses of the day (or maybe minuses if you consider my already overloaded bookshelves…) is that after talking to many writers about their books I’ve added to my already long reading list. So here’s just some of the books that I’m now eager to read:

Rome: The Emperor’s Spy by M C Scott was already on my list but I’m even more eager to read it after chatting with its author and listening to her talk about her writing and her experiences in the publishing world.

I have been intrigued for ages by Orna Ross’s books on the shelf at my local Easons but I haven’t actually read either of them yet. After listening to her talk about unleashing your creativity, they will have to come off the bookshop’s shelf and be added to the top of my pile.

I had interesting chats with the authors of these books and would love to read their work. Unfortunately I haven’t seen their books on the shelves in my local shop but I will track them down.

The author of Trade Winds has lived in Sweden, Japan and England and tells interesting stories about her past homes so I’m curious find out how her own history has influenced her recently released novel.