Tom Binnie

I write historical fiction and other novels for modern readers. My desire in writing is to involve and entertain the reader, to delight and surprise, to find value in life, history and the nature of man. I steer away from the extreme but am cognisant that any absorbing tale must contain degrees of suspense, tension and conflict. I prefer to involve diversity, otherness and mystery. I believe no woman nor man is wholly good nor wholly bad, nor are decisions made and actions taken in the full knowledge of all circumstance.

'If I can amuse and perhaps offer some small insight from my very limited view then my job is done.'

The pleasure I find in writing is doing the detailed research to create and set an authentic and convincing environment in which to base the story. I then imaginatively introduce fictional characters and actions into the gaps I have found in the known historical record. My aim is to achieve a well-paced, informed, involving and entertaining narrative. My studies in philosophy have led me to appreciate the vast diversity of views, historical and current, on ethical issues which challenge individual and societal human behaviour. I thus try, in a very small way, to introduce this as a basis for conflict into my tales. My goal is to reach a wider audience and improve the literary appeal of my work. Some current authors whose work I hugely admire such that they inspire and influence my writing are: Andrew Miller, Tessa Bradley, Geraldine Brooks and Sebastian Barry. There are, of course, many more: Patrick Gale, Andrew Taylor, Tracy Chevalier,