Fiction

Ian has published four novels: three as 'James Forrester' (his middle names), and one as Ian Mortimer. The James Forrester novels are a trilogy set in the 1560s, featuring a herald called William Harley, Clarenceux King of Arms, and a document that comes to his possession that suggests that Queen Elizabeth is illegitimate and thus has no right to the throne. These novels, first published in the UK between 2010 and 2012, fall squarely within the tradition of historical fiction. For further details, see the James Forrester website, where you will find more information about each of the books.

The Outcasts of Time, the winner of the 2018 Winston Graham Prize for Historical Fiction, is a very different story. It is not so much historical fiction as historical fantasy - but not as you might imagine it. Two brothers are journeying back to their home town of Moretonhampstead in December 1348, at the height of the Black Death, when they are infected with the plague. Distraught, they make their way up to a stone circle on Dartmoor to try to sell their souls to the devil in return for a longer life. Their request is denied by the power that answers them - they have only six days left to live - but they are offered the chance to come back and live each one of those days ninety-nine years apart. So they return in 1447, 1546, 1645 and so on. Click on the above link or the cover illustration below for further details.

Russian ed. of The Outcasts of Time