Historical Novels About Political Conflict

Elizabeth Wilson, 2011

This is the most comprehensive biography yet of possibly Russia's most important composer after Tchaikovsky. The reason it resonates so much now is that it illustrates graphicly the hazardous life of an artist under the threat of a tyrannical regime (in this case Stalin's), whose life and works are constantly being examined for criticisms, real or imaginary, of the ruling autocracy. It is a vivid portrayal of the Russian mentality and is just as relevant today as during previous centuries.

Salman Rushdie, 2024

This newly published account of the horrific attack on the writer in 2022, whilst ironically about to give a talk on the dangers to authors from extremist opinion, is currently being read on the BBC 4 channel. It graphically describes the event, its aftermath, and the effect on Rushdie, who almost lost his life and will now reach a far bigger following than ever his talk to a limited audience would have done.

Robin Hawdon, 2023

My own newly published novel, Dinner With Churchill, is based around an extraordinary event at the beginning of World War II, when fierce political enemies Winston Churchill and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and their wives encountered each other for the first time under circumstances that caused conjecture throughout political circles. The occasion is seen through the eyes of one of Churchill's overworked but adoring secretaries, who by sheer chance gets drawn into a world of secret warfare, espionage and honey traps, and the eternal struggle between good and evil regimes that still exists today.