Cargill, Honor – The Bell Bookshop

Shakespeare’s Heroines

Emma — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Make way for the fabulous women characters from Shakespeare’s best-loved plays as they take centre stage. Discover Lady Macbeth’s cunning methods of persuasion to kill the king, why the queen of the fairies fell in love with a man with a donkey’s head, how a shipwrecked girl convinced everyone she was a boy, and much more.

With a fact file for each character, comic strips of their key scenes and their key quotes broken down, this book will be the ultimate fun and feminist take on Shakespeare’s leading ladies.

The six queens of Henry VIII

Emma — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

We all know Henry VIII had six wives. But these ladies are FAR too interesting to only be known as wives. Did you know that Catherine of Aragon rallied her troops in full armour while heavily pregnant? Or that Anne of Cleves met Henry VIII BEFORE they married – only she didn’t realise, because he was in disguise! Or that it was Catherine Parr who persuaded the king to return his daughters Mary and Elizabeth – two of British history’s most famous monarchs – to the line of succession?

Get ready to lose your head as the six wonderful women behind the man take centre stage to overthrow her-story. From rumours of scandals and LOTS of lying, to political plays and fabulous frocks, The Six is a story filled with ambition, treason and strong women.

Messalina

Emma — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This is the story of Messalina – third wife of Emperor Claudius and one of the most notorious women to have inhabited the Roman world.

According to the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius, the Empress Messalina was a sexually insatiable schemer. The tales they told about her – including a twenty-four-hour sex competition with a prostitute – have taken deep root in the Western imagination, but Messalina’s real story is much more complex.

In her reappraisal of one of the most slandered female figures of ancient history, Honor Cargill-Martin finds an intelligent, passionate and ruthless woman who succeeded in asserting herself in the overwhelmingly male world of imperial Roman politics. Rather than setting out to ‘salvage’ Messalina’s reputation, she looks at her life in the context of her time. Above all, she seeks to reclaim the humanity of a life story previously circumscribed by currents of high politics and patriarchy.

Magic ever after

Emma — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Tuesday 12th April
We’re all still talking about our plans for the holidays and Fabi has had a GENIUS idea. When I get back from visiting my grandparents, we’re going to have a Finkelspark Club May Day treehouse sleepover. Can’t wait.

The school holidays are coming up and Bea is excited to see family, practise magic and spend time with ALL her friends! It’d be perfect, except something’s up. Dad is OBSESSED with learning magic (he can’t even levitate a pea!) and Taffy keeps having to do some SERIOUS THINKING. What’s going on?

Then Bea finds out Dad and Taffy’s secret… They want to get married! Bea’s To-Do list just got a lot longer – she’s got a wedding day to plan, MORE secrets to keep and magic to ~~learn~~ teach! With help from her family and friends (new, old and VERY OLD), Bea is determined to make everything PERFECT and throw the best party ~~of the year~~ EVER!

A perfect potion of magic and mischief, DIARY OF AN ACCIDENTAL WITCH is THE WORST WITCH meets TOM GATES.

PRAISE FOR DIARY OF AN ACCIDENTAL WITCH:

“Great fun!” – iPaper

“Full of magical mayhem!” – BookTrust

“A magical adventure that will touch your heart and tickle your funny bone.” – Maz Evans, author of WHO LET THE GODS OUT

“A brilliant, hilarious story!” – Emma Carroll, author of THE WEEK AT WORLD’S END

Messalina

Emma — Thu, 11 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This is the story of Messalina – third wife of Emperor Claudius and one of the most notorious women to have inhabited the Roman world.The scandalous image of the Empress Messalina as a ruthless and sexually insatiable schemer, derived from the work of Roman historians such as Tacitus and Suetonius, has taken deep root in the Western imagination. The stories they told about her included nightly visits to a brothel and a twenty-four-hour sex competition with a prostitute. Tales like these have defined the empress’s legacy, but her real story is much more complex.In her new life of Messalina, the classicist Honor Cargill-Martin reappraises one of the most slandered and underestimated female figures of ancient history. Looking beyond the salacious anecdotes, she finds a woman battling to assert her position in the overwhelmingly male world of imperial Roman politics – and succeeding. Intelligent, passionate, and ruthless when she needed to be, Messalina’s story encapsulates the cut-throat political manoeuvring and unimaginable luxury of the Julio-Claudian dynasty in its heyday.Cargill-Martin sets out not to ‘salvage’ Messalina’s reputation, but to look at her life in the context of her time. Above all, she seeks to reclaim the humanity of a life story previously circumscribed by currents of high politics and patriarchy.

Diary of an Accidental Witch

Emma — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Monday 20th September
I’M AT WITCH SCHOOL! Now would be a really good time to discover I can do magic?

Bea Black has just moved to Little Spellshire, a town with a magical secret. When her dad accidentally enrols her at the local witch school, she has to get to grips with some interesting new classes, like, NOW! Also on her to do list? Make friends, look after the grumpy class frog AND do everything ~~humanly~~ magically possible to stay on a broom?

But with the Halloween Ball on the horizon, will she be able to master her wand skills in time to WOW? And more importantly can she keep her newfound magical abilities a secret from dad?

A perfect potion of magic and mischief, DIARY OF AN ACCIDENTAL WITCH is THE WORST WITCH meets TOM GATES.