Blog

Objects That Built an Empire: The Tea Chest Do you own a tea chest, perhaps used as a humble storage box or lying forgotten in your shed or garage? If so, you should cherish it, for it's an object of immense historical significance. Few everyday objects tell the story...

The Raj Journal #2     Everyday Life in British India    from Sunrise to Sunset in the Raj A Moment in Time Calcutta, July 1934 – 6:30 a.m. The first rays of sunlight glimmer across the River Hooghly. A steamer blows its whistle. Along Chowringhee Road, tramcars set...

Objects That Built an Empire: The Pith Helmet As a little boy, I recall playing with my father’s pith helmet. Lightweight yet sturdy, it was covered in khaki cotton drill. A thin leather strap ran from front to back, with two tiny holes on either side. I used to...

The Raj Journal # 1:   What Was Calcutta Like in 1934? A Journey Through the Jewel of the British Raj   Calcutta,     15 October 1934    Temperature: 31°C The Hooghly is busy with shipping. Trams are crowded as clerks head towards Dalhousie Square. The newspapers...

What Jane Austen Taught Me About Investing There are two kinds of people in the world: those who happily spend a rainy Sunday curled up with a literary classic, and those who spend it checking the performance of their investment portfolio. Every so often, however,...

When Stories Do More Than Entertain: Literary Genres Tackling Social Issues When I was writing my most recent novel, The Pickpocket’s Letter, someone asked if I had ever picked up a book expecting a thrilling adventure, a gripping mystery, or a heartwarming romance,...

How books influence our emotions Tom and I were sitting in the pub. An hour had passed, or it may have been two. We had run out of conversation. There is only so much one can talk about the World Cup and the mad men of politics. I knew long silences made Tom fall...

Falling in Love with Dead Poets (Who Somehow Understand Us Better Than We Do Ourselves) It’s not just me, a nobody in the contemporary world; there are others who will back me on this (I know my friend, Tom, does): that there’s something mildly suspicious about...

The Art of People-Watching in a Café I discovered the art of people-watching purely by accident while on holiday on the sunny island of Cyprus. It was mid-summer, 30 degrees in the shade. My wife and I are not the type to lie prostrate on the sand for hours roasting...