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Herstory Writing

Exploring the soft underbelly of history

What Herstory Does:

Writes Non-Fiction:

Herstory sheds new light on the Wars of the Roses with three richly-illustrated books. The Battle of Wakefield Revisited, a history that reads like a whodunnit, paints a different portrait of Richard of York to the fool who ‘gave battle in vain.’ Then physically follow events with my pocket-guides Walk Wakefield 1460 and Walk Towton 1461, containing a potted history, directions to key sites, and details on what you’ll find there, including a full tour of Towton Battlefield Trail. I’ve also contributed a chapter on medieval re-enactment to the 2nd edition of the Towton archaeological report Blood Red Roses.

Writes Humour/For Children

My first attempt at writing for children and cat-fans of all ages was inspired by my late lamented feline Muse, Henry Wowler, and the adventures I imagined he might have if he could have joined his reflection MC (the Mirror-Cat) on the Other Side of reflective surfaces, with beautiful artwork by my friend Janet Flynn in her first attempt at book illustration. (If you’d like a taster of the style, check out my Dickensian spoof short story, Henry Wowler & the Cat of Christmas Past!). £1 per sale goes to help needy cats at our local Henry’s Haven Cat Rescue, in the Wow’s memory.

Writes Fantasy Fiction:

Take a trip into fantasy-land with a racy Gothic romance, The Lay of Angor trilogy by my fiction alter-ego Rae Andrew – a tongue-in-cheek homage to the genre inspired by real history, seasoned with splashes of gore and hot sex! My heroine, Princess Elinor of Gondarlan, suffers the fate of countless royal and noble women throughout history in being married off for political advantage to the ruler of a far-off land she’s never been to and doesn’t like the sound of! Will she wed the prince of her dreams or the one she’s been assigned to? Read it and find out! (A condensed single volume e-version is currently in preparation minus much of the erotica and grue, if that’s more to your taste).

If history had been taught like this at school, it would’ve been my favourite subject.
herstory audience member

I could have said much the same as this kind person – I loved history until it turned into a dull, dry list of dates and political acts with no chronological clothesline to peg them to, or social history to breathe in some life and context. Only when I started reading to plug gaps in my knowledge did I re-discover my passion for the subject, and that’s why I founded Herstory: to share that passion, and my love and respect for the people of the past, with the people of today.

About Helen Cox

I’m not an historian as such. My academic career began with a degree in Archaeological Studies from the University of Leicester, during which I discovered I didn’t like digging. So I did a post-graduate Diploma in Archaeological Conservation at the University of Durham, (and later a Masters degree in Museum Studies also from Leicester) and began working in 1985 as a full-time museum objects conservator-restorer in the UK and USA. In 1997 I became a freelance heritage consultant, then took early retirement in 2005 to pursue my interests in medieval history and creative writing.

As a member of Towton Battlefield Society (TBS), I took up longbow archery, discovered the fascinating ‘lifestyle hobby’ of Wars of the Roses re-enactment, and found a husband in the process! This gave me masses of material for writing including articles and reviews for historical and county magazines and the TBS newsletter, The Herald (which I also edited for a number of years). In 2016 I retired from re-enactment and my post as Secretary/founder member of the TBS in-house Wars of the Roses household, The Frei Compagnie, to help Hubcap manage our newly-acquired smallholding. The following year, I joined him as a full-time assistant in our garden maintenance business, which meant abandoning or cutting back on Herstory activities; we subsequently put our retirement plan into action, and now I’ve turned 65, have reduced my hours to just enough for fitness and pocket money, and reluctantly retired altogether from lecturing, guiding and interpretation. So, ‘semi-retired’ just means ‘differently busy’ – but at least I have more time for writing now!