BLOGS AND OTHER TIDBITS
In the Margins
Every book has margins. So does history.
That’s where I live — in the gaps between what was recorded and what actually happened, between the famous figures and the forgotten ones who stood beside them. Pull up a chair. I’ll be sharing what I’m researching, what’s surprising me, and why some stories simply refuse to let go until they’re told
The England I Carry With Me — And the Story It Became
Nancy Polk Hall grew up in 1960s England. Decades later, that world became Death at Brookhaven. A reflection on the childhood that quietly shaped a novel.
The Quiet Comfort of Coming Home
What coming home taught me about the story I’m writing. After weeks in Portugal, France, Germany, and Belgium, Nancy Polk Hall reflects on homecoming — and what the Continent revealed about 1960s England.
What Makes a Book Club Book
What separates a book club book from a book you just enjoy? Nancy Polk Hall on the qualities that turn a novel into a conversation that goes deep
What the Lisbon Book Fair Taught Me About the Language Books Actually Speak
Nancy Polk Hall at the Lisbon Book Fair: on author camaraderie, the inspiration of being surrounded by stories, and what books communicate beyond words.
The Best Research Isn’t in a Library — It’s in the Places That Still Remember
Nancy Polk Hall on how traveling through Portugal, Belgium, and France’s Moselle Valley becomes the living research behind her historical fiction.
The Aga and I: A 1960s Perspective
My mother is a woman who can handle almost anything with grace and good humor. England in the mid-1960s tested that theory considerably. To me,
A Letter is Waiting for You
In an age of notifications and noise, Caroline writes letters.
Letters from Caroline is a subscription like no other — original stories from history’s margins, delivered the old-fashioned way: straight to your mailbox. No inbox. No algorithm. Just a envelope, a story, and a moment to slow down.