Wendy Holden is an author, biographer, and novelist with more than 40 books published, 16 of which are bestsellers. A former journalist and war correspondent, for the last decade she has specialised in writing about remarkable survivors of WWII, with a focus on the Holocaust. A Goodreads finalist and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, she lives in Suffolk with her husband and dogs.

Eva’s fascination with the events of 1857 in India began while still a student in boarding school in India, where she discovered a treasure trove of forgotten books in an abandoned part of the school’s library. A trip, several years later, to Lucknow grew into a passion for discovery. Using an old map and several books, she began to recreate the events of the Lucknow Residency, as told by the people who were there during the siege. This would eventually lead to the publication of a guidebook.
There is still a great deal of mystery surrounding the events of 1857; this fascination led to the creation of a website: mutinyreflections.wordpress.com, where Eva continues to unravel the many aspects of those turbulent years and strives to bring to light the stories of the people who served through it. Picked up by Barnthorn Publishing in 2024, Eva has since published two books on the events surrounding the Lucknow Residency and continues to write not only on her site but is working on her third mutiny book.

Gillian Bagwell’s historical novels have been praised for their vivid and lifelike characters and richly textured, compelling evocation of time and place. She’s completed a fourth novel and is currently at work on her fifth, and has written more than forty articles about historical topics, most recently “The Surprisingly Radical Roots of the Renaissance Fair” for Smithsonian Magazine. Gillian’s taught many workshops and classes and moderated panels at the annual Historical Novel Society Conferences in the US and the UK, including several inspired by her experience as an actress and theatre director, on topics such as writing effective historical dialogue, using acting tools to bring characters to life on the page, and giving effective public readings. She’s also spoken and presented workshops at RWA, Gold Rush Writers Conference, West Hollywood Book Fair, Great Valley Bookfest, and numerous libraries. Gillian is also a professional editor, and provides writing coaching and manuscript evaluations as well as online workshops on writing historical fiction and using acting tools to develop characters.

Caroline completed a PhD in History at the University of Durham. She has a particular interest in the experience of women during the First World War, in the challenges faced by the returning soldier. She’s the author of six historical novels, published by Simon & Schuster UK. ‘The Photographer of the Lost’ was a BBC book club pick and ‘When I Come Home Again’ was a Times book of the year. Her latest novel – ‘The Best of Intentions’ – will be published in July 2025. Caroline is originally from Lancashire, but now lives in south-west France.

Sally O’Reilly grew up in Stoke-on-Trent and now lives with her family in Sheffield. En route, she’s spent time in Brixton, Brighton and Barcelona. Her short stories have been published in the UK, Australia and South Africa, and she has been shortlisted for the Cosmopolitan short story prize and the Ian St James award. She has an MA and PhD in Creative Writing from Brunel University, and has worked as a senior lecturer for the University of Portsmouth and The Open University. Her journalism has been published in the Guardian, Sunday Times and New Scientist. Sally is an Honorary Associate of The Open University and Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Aston University. Sally has published two contemporary novels (as Sam O’Reilly) with Michael Joseph/Penguin. Her historical novel Dark Aemilia (Myriad Editions/Picador US) was nominated for the Kirkus prize. How to be a Writer, her guide to making a living as an author, is published by Piatkus/Little,Brown. Hagtale, her latest novel, is a dark fairy story inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth (Scribe UK, November 2025). She is represented by Joanna Swainson of Hardman Swainson.