Gill Paul writes historical fiction, including Women and Children First (set on the Titanic) and The Affair (set in 1960s Rome during the making of the Burton-Taylor Cleopatra film).
She also writes a historical 'love stories' series, including Titanic Love Stories (about the 13 honeymoon couples on the ship) and Civil War Love Stories (based on couples who wrote to each other during the war).
And she writes on nutrition and health, after studying to be a doctor then changing her mind...
Gill lives in London and swims in an outdoor pond all year round. Bonkers!
The Last Light Over Oslo (2024) Alix Rickloff "A riveting story set in Norway in 1940, which brilliantly captures the growing sense of menace as the Nazis take control of the country. Daisy Harriman and her niece Cleo are true originals - feisty, brave, and vulnerable at the same time. Fast-moving and vividly described, The Last Light Over Oslo is a triumph!"
The Paris Muse (2024) Louisa Treger "Dora Maar, 'The Weeping Woman' of Picasso's famous paintings, steps out of the canvas in Louisa Treger's unforgettable new novel. Dora's passionate, obsessive relationship with the artist came close to destroying her, and Treger's beautifully written first-person narrative takes us deep inside her grief and torment. Picasso emerges as a controlling, sadistic man, who is single-minded in pursuit of his art first, his pleasure second. This is a powerful, absorbing read about a woman who was a talented artist in her own right, and it illustrates very graphically who was responsible for making the 'Weeping Woman' weep."
The Midnight Hour (2024) Eve Chase "I adored every word of this beautifully written, immersive family mystery."
The Secret Photographs (2024) Jacquie Bloese "A captivating panorama of late-Victorian Brighton, where beauty and seediness coexist in the shadowy alleyways behind the seafront. The story highlights the hypocrisy of a society where women are expected to be angels, while the men think nothing of buying titillating photographs for their private entertainment. All the characters are vividly drawn . . . and the writing is beautifully atmospheric."
The Queen of Sugar Hill (2024) ReShonda Tate Billingsley "Hattie McDaniel steps out of the pages and into our hearts with this revealing novel about her experiences after winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Gone With the Wind. Warm and passionate, ambitious and driven, Hattie battles against the studios that try to pigeonhole her, the activists who criticize her, the neighbors who don't want her living in their district. This is an eye-opening story about a remarkable woman, and I was gripped from the start."
The London Bookshop Affair (2024) Louise Fein "Louise Fein brilliantly conjures up the atmosphere of London in the early Sixties: the greasy food, smoky pubs, grim housing, and the limited work and home lives many led. Rumbling in the background is the mounting alarm about nuclear weapons, and the growth of activist movements campaigning against them. Celia Duchesne is a smart, ambitious and gutsy heroine, who follows her moral conscience while unravelling a devastating family secret. I was hooked from first to last page."
The Fair Folk (2024) Su Bristow "It's a story about the tensions of life in a tiny fishing community, about bullying and violence as well as the healing magic of nature. It's written smoothly and skillfully with not a word too many or too few."
The Woman at the Wheel (2023) Penny Haw "This is fine historical writing, transporting us back to another era while telling a compelling adventure story about characters we feel we know. A triumph!"
The Emerald Necklace (2023) Linda Rosen "An engaging story of women's friendships across the generations, and the comfort and support they offer each other."
Strangers in the Night (2023) Heather Webb "Heather Webb gets under the skin of two of the brightest stars showbiz ever produced, and takes us inside their tempestuous, compulsive, alcohol-fueled love story. Crackling with sexual tension, and full of insight about the pressures of mega-stardom, this is a spicy and addictive page-turner."
An Indiscrete Princess (2022) Georgie Blalock "Princess Louise was a woman out of her time: a creative freethinker with a strong will and a passion for living, who was raised in the restrictive environment of her mother, Queen Victoria's court. In Georgie Blalock's novel Louise steps out of history and into our hearts as she struggles to hew a fulfilling role for herself. It's a fascinating glimpse into the pressures of being royal in an era when princesses had few choices, and a portrait of a very likeable, relatable woman who lived 150 years ago yet feels incredibly modern."
Jenny Ashcroft "A genuine masterpiece, a book to lose yourself in."
Acts of Love and War (2022) Maggie Brookes "A vivid, immersive novel about a remarkable woman helping refugees in a bitter, heartbreaking war. I couldn't put it down."
Nothing Else (2022) Louise Beech "A story of childhood trauma, survival, the fragility of memory, and of love that survives decades - I loved it."
The Attic Child (2022) Lola Jaye "Strong, memorable characters and an unputdownable story . . . Powerfully affecting."
The Paris Bookseller (2022) Kerri Maher "The Paris Bookseller is a compelling portrait of a remarkable woman, who steps from the pages in all her charm, courage and vulnerability. It's also a colourful snapshot of literary Paris in the 1920s, with its glamour and gossip, ogres and egos. Meticulously researched yet above all a page-turning story, this is historical fiction at its best."
The Prince of the Skies (2021) Antonio Iturbe "I adored the character of Antoine, a man who is ingenious when flying a plane and an idiot when it comes to love. The descriptions of the life-and-death scrapes he and his aviator colleagues get into are gripping, and there’s a vivid sense of the sheer thrill of flying. It’s spellbinding!"
The Rose Garden (2021) Tracy Rees "Tracy Rees has a rare gift for creating characters you are rooting for from the first page. The writing is fresh and engaging, with a gentle humour...the research is meticulous, and the women’s stories are told with immense compassion. This is a novel that immerses you in its world as if by magic, and keeps you enthralled till the very end."
The Bookseller's Secret (2021) Michelle Gable "A captivating story about the inimitable Nancy Mitford. Michelle Gable has a gift for describing complex, charming characters, and her Nancy steps out of the pages in all her witty, irreverent glory. This is an engrossing page-turner about books and war, and finding love in unexpected places."
Across the Winding River (2020) Aimie K Runyan "I was quickly captivated by the three narratives in this cleverly constructed novel: the poignancy of an old man in a care home looking back on his life and the child he never knew; the instinctive goodness of a young dentist treating horrific wounds behind the WWII front line; and the strength and courage of two German sisters secretly opposed to Nazi rule…A compelling story that’s about survival and loss, and most of all about love—between father and daughter, man and woman. This is historical fiction with a big heart."
Nurse Kitty's Secret War (2020) (Nurse Kitty, book 1) Maggie Campbell "A galloping read that conjures up life in a late 1940s hospital, complete with fierce matrons and handsome doctors. Nurse Kitty is a feisty heroine who sticks her neck out to protect her patients, while trying to resolve her own family problems and heal her broken heart. It's engaging and atmospheric."
The Queen's Secret (2020) Karen Harper "If you thought the Queen Mum was a benign, plump, cheery old lady, think again. In Karen Harper’s novel she is tough, determined, and fabulously gossipy. Reading this novel is like sitting next to an indiscreet royal insider at a private dinner."
She Came to Stay (2020) Eleni Kyriacou "A gripping, evocative story of the dangers facing a young Cypriot girl in 1950s Soho. Even breathing the air is a risk as the great smog descends. The descriptions of the louche world of cafés and strip clubs are well researched and utterly convincing. It's a real gem of a book."
The Lost Lights of St Kilda (2020) Elisabeth Gifford "The characters are exquisitely drawn, and the slowly emerging love story rings entirely true. This is one of the best novels I've read in a long while, a real jewel."
And They Called It Camelot (2020) Stephanie Marie Thornton "Her Jackie steps out of the pages a convincing, three-dimensional character, complete with contradictions and self-doubt. It's like reading her private diary - witty, warm and full of color. The shining heart of the novel is her love for (and frustration with) Jack, who is described as a golden figure, so sexy any of us would swoon at his feet. Their attraction is tangible and sizzling hot. All the way through, Stephanie's writing is vivid, with lots of memorable images (like those lemon-lipped Rah-Rah Sisters!). I'm going to have to go back and read it all again in a few weeks."
Meet Me in Monaco (2019) Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb "A glorious, glamorous summer read! ...The evocation of the 1956 wedding of the year is so sumptuous you feel you are there amongst the glitterati, sipping fine champagne and inhaling the scent of Coeur de Princesse."
The Daughters of Ironbridge (2019) (Ironbridge Saga, book 1) Mollie Walton "A powerful sense of place and period, compelling characters and a pacy plot had me racing to the end."
