The Historic Traveler -- A Community for Lovers of Historical Fiction

Settings inspire and inform readers no less than novelists. Historical sites are thus an ideal venue for connecting books to readers. On the one hand, many readers will consciously seek out the venue of a favorite book. On the other hand, many travelers look for books about the places they are seeing. That's the idea behind "The Historic Traveler." The founder, Jackie Lapin, explains in a short interview.

 

Jackie, how do you see the relationship between settings and historical fiction? Are the settings of books important to you?

Certainly, the settings are vital to the historical context of a place. Reading a novel that is place-based not only brings the novel to life but creates a yearning to see the real thing. I find that historic fiction not only whets my appetite to see a location, but also provides the context for what I am seeing when I get there. I understand what has transpired here, if, of course, it is rooted in some historic truth. I’m excited to see Marie-Antoinette’s bedroom or the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles because I try to imagine what it would have been like to have been here at that time.  The novel has given me some taste of what whispered conversations might have happened here. I recently paid a visit to The Château de Chenonceau in the Loire Valley, having read several novels and history books on Catherine de Medici –I was fascinated at being in her bedroom in the chateau that she confiscated from her husbands’ mistress upon his death. Knowing the reality, reading the fiction, and seeing the actual room, I find thrilling.    

Do you enjoy reading descriptions of places in books? Or do you prefer to discover settings yourself by traveling?

A little of both, I think. I do enjoy the descriptions, and it helps me know what I want to see should I visit a city, palace, church, fortress, ruins or other. But obviously, there are many places I discover in travel that I’ve not had a chance to read about prior to going. Now when I read about that site afterward, I can visualize it with clarity. It makes reading more enjoyable when I’ve seen the real thing!

Do you enjoy reading about exotic places -- or do you prefer reading about places you know?

I like to read and see exotic locations, but that for me is adding spice to a diet of wonderful experiences. It fills in the fringes of my knowledge about the world. I just bought a book based ancient Babylon and Assyria precisely because I don’t know much about that part of the ancient world and what remains historically. I’ll read novels about ancient China, Japan or other Asian localities. But the core of my interest is UK, Europe all the way East, around the Mediterranean and North America. I will throw in a good book from Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean or Polynesia as well. But I find it’s wonderfully fun to read a book set somewhere that I have been because it ignites the memory and meshes it with the imagination.

Do you find yourself visiting places because of a book -- or reading a book because you've visited a historical venue? 

On some occasions, the former. Having been a fan of books on Mary Queen of Scots, Holyrood Palace was a must, and to stand in the very room where the great drama of the murder of her secretary occurred was memorable. But what is more likely is that I have scheduled a trip somewhere and then will start reading a steady diet of novels set in that locality. That gives me the history in a wholly digestible way. While I also love history books, it’s the novels that make history way more fun to read. By the time I hit the ground, it’s likely I’ve a pretty good idea of the people and the circumstances which defined this site, as so many novels are built around figures who actually lived—either as the protagonist or as an associated character. Even if the protagonist is fictional, should he or she be at the court of a King or Queen, the lead character will be impacted by the real historical events, and you can gain context.

Can you share one or more examples of places you've visited because of a novel you read?

Probably the one that is more directly related to booking a trip wasn’t an historical novel, but was rife with historical localities—and that was Dan Brown’s Inferno. Florence was always on my list, but after reading about the various landmarks, churches, palaces, museums, gardens, the Ponte Vecchio, the Vasari Corridor, etc, where the non-stop chase takes place, I was smitten. And before long, I was on my way to see it for myself!    

I’ve read so many Henry VIII novels, a major goal was to see Hampton Court Palace, both Henry’s favorite and now mine! I love it for the history that transpired here, but also for its unique qualities—the first palace with an indoor tennis court, the first with brick chimneys—all differently designed. Having read so much on this period, it was a joy to actually walk its halls where Henry decided the fate of so many, including Cromwell (Hillary Mantel’s Wolf Hall)

I will say that many of James Michener’s novels helped inspire me to visit various localities such as Israel, Spain, Hawaii, Mexico and Colorado to absorb the history he depicted.

What about the reverse, can you name some books that you have read because of places you've visited? 

Yes, actually! One of my favorites was a series I picked up in Australia called Kings in Grass Castles and Sons in the Saddle that brought to life the building of the great outback stations. Having been to the fascinating historic core of Rome, I’m a sucker for a good Roman series like Kate Quinn’s Empress of the Seven Hills. I’m drawn to books about amazing women in history and three come to mind—Personal Librarian about Belle da Costa Green, who was the acquisition specialist for the JP Morgan Library and Museum  in New York City, The Engineer’s Wife (Emily Warren, wife of Wash Roebling, who took over from her husband as Chief Engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge) and The Cape Doctor (based on Cape Town's renowned Dr. James Barry, born in 1795 as Margaret Anne Bulkley, who lived life as a man so she could practice the medicine that was prohibited to women.) All of these I was especially drawn to because I had been to or seen all of these locations.

Tell us more about the "Historic Traveler" community?

The Historic Traveler is a unique blog for history lovers that combines stunning photos and lively descriptions of historic locations around the world, coupled with recommendations for historic novels, mysteries, histories and biographies that illuminate what it would have been like to live there. I created it out of my love for history, historic novels and the passion to share the photos from the more than 500 localities that I have visited and photographed.

I also created Historic Traveler International, the membership community that goes deeper! It gives access to the 80-page quarterly digital Historic Traveler Magazine (divided between destinations in front and media in the back—books, TV, movies);  the world’s most comprehensive directory of historic novels, mysteries and history books by country or region; the world’s first comprehensive directory of historic hotels, inns and B&Bs; a directory of historic TV dramas on broadcast or streaming; exclusive travel discounts and travel booking agent; a book club dedicated to history buffs; a book swap; a monthly community meeting and chat room with other historic travel enthusiasts; a matching resource for people who are looking for traveling companions; interviews with leading experts and authors; specialty books of themed photo collections, and ongoing news about travel opportunities to historic places. You can go to to www.TheHistoricTraveler.com to explore or sign up for the historic location features, book recommendations and more.

What made you launch this project? 

I am at a point in life where I wanted to do something that brought all of my passions together—my vast reading of historic novels, my knowledge of historic locales, my archive of 40,000 images, my love of storytelling (I’ve written professionally throughout my career) and my mission to serve and share.   But I also like the idea of finding other history, historic novel and travel buffs, so I wasn’t operating in isolation. We all know today that people crave connection and community and I wanted to create something that delighted and fulfilled people by bringing them together in these shared passions!

8. Where and how can we take part?

Here’s a free gift for you and your readers, our eGuide 20 Great International Cities Where You Can Immerse Yourself in History …and the Books That Make You Feel as if You Lived It!  You can get it at www.thehistorictraveler.com/guide

And then come on over to check out the blog, sign up for the updates, and join one of our general meetings or book club meetings to get acquainted. Feel free to reach out on social media—Facebook Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube or LinkedIn. I look forward to continuing the dialogue with folks over there!

  

Celebrating and Moving On!

 I am pleased to announce that the 2025 Awards Season has gotten off to a great start. 

Both Cold Victory and The Tale of the English Templar were honored.

Cold Victory took GOLD in the Category Political Thrillers 

The Tale of the English Templar took BRONZE in the Category Historical Fiction.

Henceforth, I will be making weekly posts on my Substack page. You can find me at: 

https://hpschrader.substack.com

Hope you'll join me there!
 

Settings that Inform

 The encounter with Sparta that changed everything. 

Even someone who has never studied Sparta or read a single book about it has images of Ancient Sparta transmitted through our language alone.  “Spartan” is an adjective used to denote “severe,” “plain,” and “austere.” Laconic speech is “terse,” “concise” and “economical.” The most rudimentary and fleeting brush with Sparta in literature almost invariably includes reference to rigid discipline, disdain for luxury, self-sacrifice and endurance of hardship.

The more one looks into Spartan society, the quicker he/she is confronted by references to a childhood of deprivation in which one had to steal to get enough to eat and was allowed only one garment per year. The boys, we learn, had to cut down the river reeds with their bare hands or the help of a tool which is dismissed as practically worthless, and then sleep upon these instead of real beds. Worse, they had to live practically in the wild, exposed to the elements without shelter or proper clothes.  Books like Gates of Fire describe horrendous beatings to which Spartan boys were apparently subjected for any tiny infraction of the rigid rules of acceptable behavior.

Nor are youths the only Spartans whom, we are led to believe, suffered deprivation. This was a society, according to most sources, where women were prohibited from wearing jewelry or even taking pride in their weaving. Indeed, all gold and silver was banned, and so could adorn nothing - not even the temples of the Gods.  The houses, we are told, were not painted (as else where in the Ancient world), and if one believes the oft quoted “sayings of Spartan kings” they did not even hew their house beams into regular square posts, but left them raw and untreated – one imagines crude timber as in a log cabin. Meanwhile, the young men lived in barracks (notoriously grim places in any society!) and for their entire lives ate their meals at men’s clubs where the cuisine, we soon learn, was infamous throughout the ancient world for its lack of sophistication and variety.

In short, it sounds like a society barely surviving in a hostile environment, a society which had made a virtue out of necessity. 

And then I went to Sparta... 

 

As I drove down the modern road from Tripoli (or Tegea as I prefer to think of it) toward Sparti (Sparta) there came a moment when coming around a bend I caught the first glimpse of the Taygetos mountains. The view took my breath away.  I could hardly concentrate on the winding road for straining to get another glimpse of those spectacular, snow-capped mountains. When after another twenty minutes of driving the valley of the Eurotas spread out before me, it was a revelation. My image of Sparta – Ancient Sparta and all that Sparta implied – was transformed in a single instant.

The valley of the Eurotas is anything but barren! It is quite the reverse. It is green and fertile and stunningly beautiful -- like riches cupped in the hands of the gods. From the blooming oleander to the wild iris, the valley is a garden. The orange orchards stretch as far as the eye can see, brazenly advertising not only the abundance of soil and sun but of water as well. Most spectacular of all, the Eurotas valley is one of those few places on earth that offers the sensually stimulating sight of palm trees waving against a back-drop of snow-capped mountains.

I asked myself: has Laconia perhaps changed dramatically in the last 2,500 years? Was it poor when the harsh, economical, self-disciplined Spartan society took root in its -- then -- sparse and almost barren soil?  Does it bloom now artificially because of modern fertilizers and irrigation?

If we are to believe the ancient historians, no. Herodotus speaks of Sparta’s “good soil”.[i] Thucydides describes the entire Peloponnese (with the exception of Arcadia) as the “richest part of Hellas.”[ii] It is when speaking of Athens, that Thucydides draws attention to “the poverty of her soil.”[iii]

So the fertility and abundance of the valley has not changed since Ancient times any more than the shape of the mountains that enclose it. 

 

But if this rich valley was the seat of Sparta, then Spartan austerity and deprivation did not come from necessity! If Sparta’s land was rich, fertile and productive, then it could have enabled the highest standard of living available in the ancient world -- at least to the always modest number of elite Spartiates. In short, if Sparta was as austere a society as it is depicted in modern times, then that austerity was self-imposed.

Is it reasonable to imagine that a people raised in the midst of wealth and beauty had no appreciation for either? Or is the very austerity of Spartan society as mythical as the thin soil described in modern novels about Sparta?

 

I started to wonder if our images of a rigid, harsh and brutally disciplined society were a distortion or exageration? A fractured image? A misunderstanding based on ignorant, or prejudiced foreign reporting? Imagine what American society looked liked through the eyes of the Soviets or the Taliban!

That was when I started to seriously research Ancient Sparta, focusing on ancient sources, primary sources, archaeology and and scholarly works. I soon discovered a different world from that of Hollywood, Stephen Pressfield and the global fascist movement that has expropriated so many Spartan symbols. 

 

Following extensive research, participation in scholarly fora, and personal contact with some of the leading modern scholars of Ancient Sparta, I have come to believe that popular modern images of Sparta are based largely on inadequate, hostile and sometimes purely fanciful source material.  So I set out to describe a different Sparta, a Sparta consistent with the ancient sources, but enhanced by common sense interpolation and an understanding of human nature. On the assumption that exaggerations and myths often have a kernel of truth, I did not turn Sparta into paradise of luxury and self-indulgence, but sought instead to provide logical explanations of where the legends might have had their roots in a normal, if unique, society. This Spartan world is depicted in my six novels set in Ancient Sparta, which have been praised by scholars for their plausibility and contribution to an understanding of the real Sparta.   

 

---

[i] Herodotus, Book I.66, p.26.

[ii] Thucydides, Book I.2, p.36.

[iii] Ibid.

Find out more about my novels set in Ancient Sparta at: https://helenapschrader.net/ancient-sparta/

                                 

Settings that Inspire Inspiration

 Inspirational Kantara!

 

Personally, the Island of Cyprus and most especially the above pictured castle of Kantara was the setting which had the most profound influence on my writing. An unplanned trip to Cyprus (my husband and I had booked a trip to Egypt but because of a terrorist attack had to rebook our holiday at short notice), inspired years of further research and travel culminating in six published and three unpublished novels. The most obvious of these is The Last Crusader Kingdom.

 

I was immediately intrigued by Richard the Lionheart's sojourn on the island, but then became fascinated by the dramatic opposition of the Cypriot barons to the tyrannical Frederick II Hohenstaufen. I wrote a series of novels about Cyprus during the civil war in the early 13th century, but doubting the appetite of the reading public for such an obscure topic I never sought a publisher.

Several years later, the release of the film "The Kingdom of Heaven" re-ignited my interest in this period of history. Suspecting Hollywood might not have gotten all the facts right, I started to research Balian d'Ibelin and discovered that the historical Balian was considerably more interesting than the Hollywood Balian. I became inspired to write my Jerusalem Trilogy, set in the Holy Land during the end of the twelfth century. Yet having come to the end of Balian's known life I was confronted by an alluring mystery. How was it possible that the ever incompetent Guy de Lusignan had managed to pacify an island the Knights Templar had given up on? How had the disastrous King of Jerusalem become the wise and successful ruler of Cyprus. 

The mystery took me back to Cyprus and indeed a new and exciting hypothesis, which is the basis of The Last Crusader Kingdom.  Not only that, but the story of Balian's eldest son, the historically more famous John d'Ibelin, Lord of Beirut, had its roots in Cyprus too. And so I returned -- to Kantara again and again. 

Find out more about the novels set in Cyprus at: https://helenapschrader.net/crusades-era/

                                                      

Settings aren't just Background

When speaking about novels, most readers focus on the plot and characters and to a lesser extent on the themes. Yet the  settings of novels are important, too. Fantasy novels and science fiction, for example, create entire worlds, while even novels set in contemporary reality have clear settings that influence their impact. The same murder mystery has a different edge when set in Paris than New York. A romance has a different feel if the lovers are ranchers in Wyoming rather than bankers on Wall Street etc. Vivid settings enliven and enrich any book. Yet in the case of historical fiction, settings are more than background: they shape the entire book. Let me explain.

 

 

The settings of historical fiction novels don't just create atmosphere, and they also create 'facts.' In a book set in ancient Rome no one can travel by plane or place a telephone call. In short, the 'setting' determines the options the characters have for movement and communication. The setting establishes parameters for climate, the type of clothing worn, languages spoken, prevailing religious beliefs, social customs, the status of women and so on. While that is true in contemporary fiction too, it is not necessary to explain a setting that is familiar to the reader.

By contrast, in the historical fiction, setting is so important that it is the single most important factor used for classifying books within the genre. Historical fiction books are categorized first and foremost by the time period in which they are set and then the geographic region. We speak of "a novel set in the American civil war" or "a novel of Ancient Rome" or perhaps "a novel set against the tumultuous backdrop of the War of the Roses." In all cases, the setting of the novel defines it before we dig deeper to discover if this is a romance, a war-story, or a mystery. 

The other way in which settings are particularly important to historical fiction is that for most readers the setting will be unfamiliar. In a novel set in contemporary times, an author can say: " He stopped at  MacDonald's for a Big Mac, and then ...." No further explanation is needed. For a novel set in Ancient Egypt, the author is going to have to describe what a quick snack looked like and where it could be obtained -- or maybe do without that little episode altogether in order not to bore the reader.... A novel set in modern times can say: "He worked in a open-space office with tiny cubicles" and the reader already sees the environment. Most readers, however, cannot immediately picture the scene if the novelist says: "He worked in the Scriptorium of the abbey."

Given the importance of settings to the genre, it hardly surprising that historical novelists are particularly influenced by settings before they even set out to write. Settings can inspire, inform and enrich an author -- enabling them to share that experience with the readers. I will be discussing each of these functions in the weeks ahead.

My novels are set in three distinct historical eras: Ancient Sparta, the era of the Crusades and the mid-20th Century, Find out more at: https://helenapschrader.net

                                                                 

Characters in "Cold Victory" : Georgina's Girls

 I want to end the introductions to the characters in "Cold Victory" with this collective introduction to "Georgina's Girls." Georgina Moran, familiar to many of my readers from "Moral Fibre," has come to Berlin to teach at the British School. In addition to her official duties, she organizes a joint British-German school choir and then offers sewing classes to girls who want to learn. The American nurse Anna volunteers to give the girls a medical check-up because many have had no access to medical care in years. 

The girls represent the tens of thousands of teenage girls in Berlin at this time.

 

 In this excerpt, an inadvertent remark triggers an explosion of confessions that lay bare the burden these girls carry within them.

 “But what if you didn’t have a choice?” Petra asked in a strained voice that made Georgina look over at her in concern. Petra rarely spoke up. Usually, she just trailed unhappily in Dietlinde, Gisela and Ulrike’s wake.

“A choice about what?” Anna asked, having lost the thread of the conversation.

“About having sex,” Petra burst out, her face flushing.

A hush fell over the whole room and Georgina’s instinct was to change the subject, but Anna confronted the question head-on. “Especially when you didn’t have a choice, Petra. A man can force you to have sex with him, but he can’t force you not to go to school, or not to get job training, or not to work.”

“The f**king bastards don’t care what our names are, much less give a f**king damn what we do with our lives after they’ve got what they paid for!” Gisela erupted with an explosion of unexpected fury, adding bitterly, “It’s the rest of society that won’t give us a chance!”

Dietlinde said something to her in German which triggered an even more violent reaction. With a sharp push, Gisela thrust Dietlinde away and screamed at her in German.

Ulrike and Hannah tried to intervene, but that only made things worse. Gisela shouted and screamed in German, eliciting equally vociferous answers from Ulrike, Dietlinde and Hannah. Like a mini cyclone, emotions spiralled out of control.

After recovering from their shock, Georgina and Anna tried to intervene, but Gisela swung on them, shouting in English, “My father wanted me to shoot myself! He gave me his pistol — butt-first. He didn’t even give me time to pull up my panties! I was trembling and bleeding and I wanted to be sick, and he just jabbed a pistol butt in my face!”

Georgina stopped breathing and Anna froze.

Gisela continued, “My mother shoved him aside and bundled me out of the house — but he shouted after me not to come back. He said I was dead to him — whether I had the ‘decency’ to kill myself or not!” She turned and focused on Anna, who had had the temerity to suggest she had control over her fate. “I live with my aunt now, but she has three children and no job. She’ d have nothing if I didn’t earn enough cigarettes and chocolate for her to trade on the black market. At least she’s thankful for it.”

Like puss pouring from a punctured boil, the other stories followed.

“My mother says I don’t belong in school,” Ulrike announced, her teeth clamped. “She says I’d earn more money working all week rather than just on the weekends. But why should I put out for four or five GIs every day so she can buy herself gin? She steals half the nylons they give me anyway, and the cigarettes, of course. But she’s a ‘lady,’ and I’m just a whore!” She grabbed a cigarette and lit up, a grim expression on her face.

“After the Ivans had me, the concierge cornered me and forced himself on me as well. He said since no decent man would ever marry me, I had no right to ‘put on airs’ and ‘pretend to be a nice girl,’” Beate lashed out.

“German men are the worst bastards of all!” Hannah concurred bitterly. “First, they let the Ivans do what they liked with us, and then they call us traitors for sleeping with ‘the enemy’!”

“They didn’t all abandon us!” Petra protested, surprising the others. “My father tried to stop the Ivans. He stood up to them, but they shot him three times in the stomach. Then they raped me while he writhed in pain and bled to death.” Petra burst into tears as she cried out, "Maybe if I hadn’t resisted, he’d still be alive!”  

Georgina recoiled in horror; she could identify with this story more than the others because she could easily imagine her father trying to protect her. The horror of his pain and death on top of the violence of gang rape was unfathomable. She took Petra into her arms and tried to comfort her.

But Dietlinde wasn’t finished, “All good German men were dead!” she declared. “The ones left alive either surrendered or ran away!”

“They surrendered to the Ivans but still think they have a right to our bodies for free because the victors have already had them,” Ulrike spat out contemptuously, and her words were greeted by a flurry of agreement that tapered off into silence. Petra gently pulled herself out of Georgina’s arms, wiping the tears away from her face with her hands.

The short but intense outburst of confessions, like a violent thunderstorm, ended as suddenly as it started. But instead of clearing the air, Georgina felt the tension simmering. She knew that her nerves were too frayed to cope with any more revelations. She was going to need to reflect on what she’d learnt today for many hours and days to come, and she wanted her father’s advice too.  She looked toward the clock and announced in relief, “Look at the time! We must pack away our things and lock up.”

With exaggerated alacrity to cover their embarrassment, the girls busied themselves putting their unfinished sewing into the lockers at the back of the class and donning their old over-clothes. Meanwhile, Georgina rubbed out the blackboard, and Anna wrapped herself in her cape. When the last of the girls had filed out, Georgina switched off the lights and followed them down the stairs. Outside they waved goodbye “until tomorrow,” and the girls walked in a group toward the nearest underground station, while Georgina and Anna climbed into the headmaster’s car, which he had put at Georgina’s disposal.  

After a few moments of silence, Georgina remarked, “Well, that was educational.”

“And sobering,” Anna agreed. She paused before adding, “There’s something else you ought to know.” Georgina waited, warned by Anna’s tone to expect something unpleasant. “First, Silvie is more than four months pregnant. Second, Gertrud, who was nine when the city fell to the Reds, is the only virgin, and finally, seven of the girls have VD.”

Georgina caught her breath. She thought back to when she had been their age, attending an Anglican boarding school for girls. If even one of them had not been a virgin, it would have been a scandal, and she’d never heard of VD. She thought back, too, to her first encounter with Herr Dr Altenheyn. He’d emphasised that the Kaiser Wilhelm School was an ‘elite’ school. The parents of these pupils, he’d claimed, were bureaucrats, professionals and academics. Perhaps that was the reason they were so incapable of coping with their daughters’ fall from grace?

She shook her head and admitted, “I heard about the Russian rapes before I came, but everyone talked about them as though they were history. It was something terrible that had happened ‘in the war,’ rather like the bombing and the concentration camps. No one seemed to understand that those rapes are still warping lives. It must be the same all across the city.”

 Buy Now!

Find out more about the Bridge to Tomorrow series, the awards it has won, and read reviews at: https://helenapschrader.net/bridge-to-tomorrow/