Angela K Smith
@angelaksmith.bsky.social
Writer of historical fiction, reader of anything.
Emerita Professor of Modern Literature, University of Plymouth
https://linktr.ee/a.k.smith
https://www.aksmith.co.uk/
Emerita Professor of Modern Literature, University of Plymouth
https://linktr.ee/a.k.smith
https://www.aksmith.co.uk/
Pinned
Out now! Where No Shadow Awaits launches today! By turns trench trench narrative, murder mystery, ghost story and romance, follow Joe and Gabrielle as their troubled story plays out against a backdrop of the battle of Passchendaele. #historicalfiction #firstworldwar
www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Shadow...
www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Shadow...
Not a book, but there are so many stories here that I can’t resist writing about The Red Dress.
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/the-red...
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/the-red...
The Red Dress
My last couple of offerings have been rather sombre, so as it’s Christmas I thought it would be good to lighten the mood with something more optimistic. For the last few weeks, I have had the privileg...
www.aksmith.co.uk
December 21, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Not a book, but there are so many stories here that I can’t resist writing about The Red Dress.
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/the-red...
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/the-red...
A warning from the past… thinking about Storm Jameson’s political fiction of the 1930s.
#books
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/a-warni...
#books
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/a-warni...
A Warning from the Past
Last time I thought about the way Margaret Storm Jameson represents Armistice Day in her novel Company Parade (1934). This has led me on to think a bit more about Jameson’s other political fiction of ...
www.aksmith.co.uk
December 13, 2025 at 10:29 AM
A warning from the past… thinking about Storm Jameson’s political fiction of the 1930s.
#books
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/a-warni...
#books
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/a-warni...
December 3, 2025 at 4:47 PM
New blog thinking about the complexities of remembrance…
#booksky
#remembranceday
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/remembr...
#booksky
#remembranceday
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/remembr...
Remembrances on Remembrance Day
It is Remembrance Day again. The opening section of my new novel, Where No Shadow Awaits, is situated in the Belgian city of Ypres for the 70th anniversary of the Armistice, 11th November 1988. Here, ...
www.aksmith.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 11:22 AM
New blog thinking about the complexities of remembrance…
#booksky
#remembranceday
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/remembr...
#booksky
#remembranceday
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/remembr...
October 9, 2025 at 7:20 PM
A new blog thinking about the advantages of fiction…
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/40-an-a...
#historicalfiction
#booksky
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/40-an-a...
#historicalfiction
#booksky
October 5, 2025 at 10:48 AM
A new blog thinking about the advantages of fiction…
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/40-an-a...
#historicalfiction
#booksky
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/40-an-a...
#historicalfiction
#booksky
Out now! Where No Shadow Awaits launches today! By turns trench trench narrative, murder mystery, ghost story and romance, follow Joe and Gabrielle as their troubled story plays out against a backdrop of the battle of Passchendaele. #historicalfiction #firstworldwar
www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Shadow...
www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Shadow...
September 4, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Out now! Where No Shadow Awaits launches today! By turns trench trench narrative, murder mystery, ghost story and romance, follow Joe and Gabrielle as their troubled story plays out against a backdrop of the battle of Passchendaele. #historicalfiction #firstworldwar
www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Shadow...
www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Shadow...
New blog for a new novel! Where No Shadow Awaits is here at last. Find out about it…
#historicalfiction
#firstworldwarfiction
#booksky
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/39-intr...
#historicalfiction
#firstworldwarfiction
#booksky
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/39-intr...
Introducing Where No Shadow Awaits
It’s nearly publication day for Where No shadow Awaits! I am so excited as I’ve lived with this novel for such a long time. The main characters began to inhabit my brain back when I was doing my PhD o...
www.aksmith.co.uk
August 18, 2025 at 1:37 PM
New blog for a new novel! Where No Shadow Awaits is here at last. Find out about it…
#historicalfiction
#firstworldwarfiction
#booksky
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/39-intr...
#historicalfiction
#firstworldwarfiction
#booksky
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/39-intr...
New blog about one of the books that inspired my forthcoming novel, Where No Shadow Awaits, out September.
#firstworldwar #womenswriting #writingcommunity #readingcommunity
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/an-ever...
#firstworldwar #womenswriting #writingcommunity #readingcommunity
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/an-ever...
‘An everlasting dislocation of combinations’
Many contemporary First World War books inspired me as I undertook the research for Where No Shadow Awaits. I’ve already written about two of the key texts, but there is a third that was also very inf...
www.aksmith.co.uk
July 12, 2025 at 10:53 AM
New blog about one of the books that inspired my forthcoming novel, Where No Shadow Awaits, out September.
#firstworldwar #womenswriting #writingcommunity #readingcommunity
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/an-ever...
#firstworldwar #womenswriting #writingcommunity #readingcommunity
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/an-ever...
New blog about women in the First World War anticipating my new novel, Where No Shadow Awaits, out in September…
#firstworldwar
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/women-i...
#firstworldwar
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/women-i...
Women in a Forbidden Zone
A few blogs ago I talked about The Forbidden Zone by Mary Borden. Another book that was an influence in the development of my forthcoming novel, Where No Shadow Awaits, is Ellen Newbold La Motte’s 191...
www.aksmith.co.uk
June 21, 2025 at 10:19 AM
New blog about women in the First World War anticipating my new novel, Where No Shadow Awaits, out in September…
#firstworldwar
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/women-i...
#firstworldwar
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/women-i...
This book is about cricket and so much more…
@anniechave.bsky.social
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/it-isn-...
@anniechave.bsky.social
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/it-isn-...
It isn’t just about cricket!
Last month a very good friend of mine, Annie Chave, published her first book, Cricket Changed My Life, which has been very well received in cricketing circles. But it’s not all about cricket… well, of...
www.aksmith.co.uk
May 24, 2025 at 12:36 PM
This book is about cricket and so much more…
@anniechave.bsky.social
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/it-isn-...
@anniechave.bsky.social
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/it-isn-...
This time a blog about what we might expect from a woman’s book…
#reading
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/what-is...
#reading
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/what-is...
What is a ‘woman’s’ book?
When the journalist, Rebecca West, published her first novel in 1918, it was dismissed by critics as a ‘woman’s’ book and too ‘feminine’. The reasons for this are clear. The action of The Return of th...
www.aksmith.co.uk
May 7, 2025 at 1:53 PM
This time a blog about what we might expect from a woman’s book…
#reading
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/what-is...
#reading
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/what-is...
That time of year again
April 28, 2025 at 4:05 PM
That time of year again
Topsham ferry this morning. So lovely to have great walks on our doorstep.
April 12, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Topsham ferry this morning. So lovely to have great walks on our doorstep.
New blog thinking about gender and reading. What is a ‘man’s’ book?
#reading #historicalfiction
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/what-is...
#reading #historicalfiction
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/what-is...
April 12, 2025 at 2:08 PM
New blog thinking about gender and reading. What is a ‘man’s’ book?
#reading #historicalfiction
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/what-is...
#reading #historicalfiction
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/what-is...
Fantastic way to start the week…
April 7, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Fantastic way to start the week…
Reeds and trees and sky…
April 6, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Reeds and trees and sky…
Dawlish Warren, Devon, looking good at the weekend.
March 31, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Dawlish Warren, Devon, looking good at the weekend.
A new blog reflecting on the challenges facing a woman artist in the 1930s… the autobiography of Tirzah Garwood.
#reading
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/artist-...
#reading
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/artist-...
Artist or Wife? Tirzah Garwood in the 1930s
Staying in the first half of the twentieth century, I have recently read Long Live Great Bardfield: The Autobiography of Tirzah Garwood, which was edited by Garwood’s daughter, Anne Ullman, and publis...
www.aksmith.co.uk
March 16, 2025 at 3:53 PM
A new blog reflecting on the challenges facing a woman artist in the 1930s… the autobiography of Tirzah Garwood.
#reading
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/artist-...
#reading
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/artist-...
First World War blog anticipating my new novel, Where No Shadow Stays, coming later this year…
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/revisit...
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/revisit...
Revisiting Forbidden Zones
I’m going to focus on the First World War for a bit in anticipation of the publication later this year of my new novel, Where No Shadow Stays. By turns trench narrative, ghost story, murder mystery an...
www.aksmith.co.uk
February 23, 2025 at 11:15 AM
First World War blog anticipating my new novel, Where No Shadow Stays, coming later this year…
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/revisit...
www.aksmith.co.uk/post/revisit...
An alternative history of Richard III. He lives! What’s not to like?
www.amazon.co.uk/Solace-Commo...
www.amazon.co.uk/Solace-Commo...
February 17, 2025 at 5:24 PM
An alternative history of Richard III. He lives! What’s not to like?
www.amazon.co.uk/Solace-Commo...
www.amazon.co.uk/Solace-Commo...