Natasha Simonova
@philistella.bsky.social
Research Fellow @ies-sas.bsky.social, Bougie London Literary Woman, cat concierge. Book on 18th-century women's letters forthcoming from Chatto & Windus. natashasimonova.com
Pinned
Excited for this energy! About me: one foot still in academia (17th/18th c., women's writing, manuscripts, fiction), working on a trade book about 18th-century women's letters, always up for freelance writing/reviewing gigs or new friends and events around London. Servant to small elderly cat.
Train passed through Durham and now I (a worn out husk, full of cold and suffering) have this extremely apt push weather forecast.
January 25, 2026 at 7:51 PM
Train passed through Durham and now I (a worn out husk, full of cold and suffering) have this extremely apt push weather forecast.
Viewing -> how I've left it today (floors!)
January 23, 2026 at 3:44 PM
Viewing -> how I've left it today (floors!)
Floors started happening today (a week later than planned)!! Did anything else happen, I did not notice, floors.
January 19, 2026 at 5:42 PM
Floors started happening today (a week later than planned)!! Did anything else happen, I did not notice, floors.
Reposted by Natasha Simonova
Mother to child on bus: You've got to work on your comebacks. They need a bit, you know, wittier. I know you're only five, but we'll get there.
January 19, 2026 at 8:53 AM
Mother to child on bus: You've got to work on your comebacks. They need a bit, you know, wittier. I know you're only five, but we'll get there.
Prospective movers: And do you have any high-value art?
Me: Well I think it's quite--
Movers: Over £10,000.
Me:...no.
Me: Well I think it's quite--
Movers: Over £10,000.
Me:...no.
January 18, 2026 at 5:31 PM
Prospective movers: And do you have any high-value art?
Me: Well I think it's quite--
Movers: Over £10,000.
Me:...no.
Me: Well I think it's quite--
Movers: Over £10,000.
Me:...no.
A priceless (but also very expensive) creature.
January 18, 2026 at 3:49 PM
A priceless (but also very expensive) creature.
Reposted by Natasha Simonova
the entire population of England in 1086 will return in... Avengers Domesday
January 13, 2026 at 2:56 PM
the entire population of England in 1086 will return in... Avengers Domesday
At the stage of renovation where four sets of people are yelling at me at once, plans constantly have to get changed on the fly, costs are piling up, and I haven't had a full night's sleep in weeks. Fortnight until move-in day! I have no floor!
January 16, 2026 at 6:36 AM
At the stage of renovation where four sets of people are yelling at me at once, plans constantly have to get changed on the fly, costs are piling up, and I haven't had a full night's sleep in weeks. Fortnight until move-in day! I have no floor!
I am unbelievably stressed, about everything, and today I spent nearly a thousand pounds I don't currently have to find out that what I do have, is a fifteen-year-old cat /o\
January 15, 2026 at 10:24 PM
I am unbelievably stressed, about everything, and today I spent nearly a thousand pounds I don't currently have to find out that what I do have, is a fifteen-year-old cat /o\
Reposted by Natasha Simonova
History Today was first published 75 years ago this week to make sense of a world undergoing ‘bewilderingly swift’ change.
✍️ Our editors reflect on the story so far
www.historytoday.com/archive/75th...
✍️ Our editors reflect on the story so far
www.historytoday.com/archive/75th...
A 75th Anniversary Letter from the Editors
www.historytoday.com
January 14, 2026 at 11:05 AM
History Today was first published 75 years ago this week to make sense of a world undergoing ‘bewilderingly swift’ change.
✍️ Our editors reflect on the story so far
www.historytoday.com/archive/75th...
✍️ Our editors reflect on the story so far
www.historytoday.com/archive/75th...
A wild animal appears.
January 11, 2026 at 12:48 PM
A wild animal appears.
I've not seen this one before and it needs to replace the other overused Friedrich painting on every cover immediately.
Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.
5. Caspar David Friedrich, A woman at a window, 1822. Altenationalgalerie, Berlin.
5. Caspar David Friedrich, A woman at a window, 1822. Altenationalgalerie, Berlin.
January 11, 2026 at 7:39 AM
I've not seen this one before and it needs to replace the other overused Friedrich painting on every cover immediately.
I woke up at 3am raring to go with the renovation, then had a long complicated dream involving Philip Pullman, non-consensual immersive cabaret theatre, and personal family trauma, and now I am no longer raring to go. Also I had to Google 'is Rose Tremain alive' (yes).
January 9, 2026 at 9:09 AM
I woke up at 3am raring to go with the renovation, then had a long complicated dream involving Philip Pullman, non-consensual immersive cabaret theatre, and personal family trauma, and now I am no longer raring to go. Also I had to Google 'is Rose Tremain alive' (yes).
Reposted by Natasha Simonova
January 1625 - Richard Napier briefly owns a swan.
3 Jan: 'Mr Grub sent me a Cygnet ... I gave him 2s'. 8 Jan: 'My Cygnet did flye away'. #otd #earlymodern
3 Jan: 'Mr Grub sent me a Cygnet ... I gave him 2s'. 8 Jan: 'My Cygnet did flye away'. #otd #earlymodern
January 8, 2026 at 12:42 PM
January 1625 - Richard Napier briefly owns a swan.
3 Jan: 'Mr Grub sent me a Cygnet ... I gave him 2s'. 8 Jan: 'My Cygnet did flye away'. #otd #earlymodern
3 Jan: 'Mr Grub sent me a Cygnet ... I gave him 2s'. 8 Jan: 'My Cygnet did flye away'. #otd #earlymodern
Reposted by Natasha Simonova
George III in 1804:
January 8, 2026 at 6:48 PM
George III in 1804:
Mostly I am an independent modern woman who needs no man, but when it comes to anything weighing over 5kg I immediately turn into Blanche Dubois, it's remarkable.
January 8, 2026 at 4:44 PM
Mostly I am an independent modern woman who needs no man, but when it comes to anything weighing over 5kg I immediately turn into Blanche Dubois, it's remarkable.
Flat update: continuing to make it Worse.
January 8, 2026 at 8:10 AM
Flat update: continuing to make it Worse.
Do Women Like The Night Manager Too Much? Is the sight of Tom Hiddleston with his shirtsleeves rolled up inflaming their loins and distracting them from household labours? Coming soon on Salon dot com.
January 7, 2026 at 8:44 AM
Do Women Like The Night Manager Too Much? Is the sight of Tom Hiddleston with his shirtsleeves rolled up inflaming their loins and distracting them from household labours? Coming soon on Salon dot com.
I've said this in a reply recently, but back when I was coming up through the Internet mines at the turn of the millennium, 'my thoughts on yaoi' was jokey shorthand for 'tedious disquisition on a topic that has already been talked to death.'
January 6, 2026 at 4:37 PM
I've said this in a reply recently, but back when I was coming up through the Internet mines at the turn of the millennium, 'my thoughts on yaoi' was jokey shorthand for 'tedious disquisition on a topic that has already been talked to death.'
Can report that it is not snowing in SW London, except with emails from delivery companies warning that they might not manage 'due to the weather conditions.'
January 6, 2026 at 10:53 AM
Can report that it is not snowing in SW London, except with emails from delivery companies warning that they might not manage 'due to the weather conditions.'
Big scar across my hand of the 'blood oath or extremely peculiar destiny' type, from a bagel-related injury.
What's the most ridiculous way you ever hurt yourself? I got out of the tub, skidded in water and tripped over the toilet. Ankle sprain.
😅
😅
January 5, 2026 at 11:04 PM
Big scar across my hand of the 'blood oath or extremely peculiar destiny' type, from a bagel-related injury.
My current flat is up for rent with some very cunning uses of Photoshop. See if you can spot a) Penny and b) the outside bins.
January 4, 2026 at 11:02 PM
My current flat is up for rent with some very cunning uses of Photoshop. See if you can spot a) Penny and b) the outside bins.
W.H. Auden was totally right about the amorous effects of brass on spinsters of the middle class; I just received a shipment of doorknobs that made me say 'phwoar'.
January 3, 2026 at 2:29 PM
W.H. Auden was totally right about the amorous effects of brass on spinsters of the middle class; I just received a shipment of doorknobs that made me say 'phwoar'.
I don't want to say goodbye to my terrible friend Carol Sturka, whom I love :((
January 2, 2026 at 8:37 PM
I don't want to say goodbye to my terrible friend Carol Sturka, whom I love :((