Catherine Curzon's Blog

For a short time only, our latest release – The Lost Orphans – is just 99p!

Buy yours in ebook now!

‘Absolutely loved this… Funny, touching, heart-warming and heartbreaking in equal measure… wonderful.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘I loved this… gripping from the off… I was completely invested… Heart-warming, entertaining, and emotional, this book was fantastic.’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The second novel in our Runaway Evacuees series, The Lifeboat Orphans, is on pre-order now. Out on 12th November!

Pre-order your copy now! Available in ebook, paperback, Kindle Unlimited, and audiobook.

North Atlantic Ocean, 1942. The wind whips around Connie’s shivering frame as waves churn beneath the lifeboat. She clings to the little orphan boy in her care, willing him to stay alive—even if she does not. Tears fall down her freckled cheeks. Is this the end for two orphans, lost at sea?

Fifteen-year-old Connie is leaving war-torn England for the safer shores of America, looking after a nine-year old orphan boy with sad blue eyes. But the ocean is rife with Nazi vessels. And when their boat is torpedoed, in the fear and chaos Connie can’t stop thinking about handsome Jack, who stayed behind in London. Will the orphans survive, and will Connie ever be reunited with her first love?

Back in London, sixteen-year-old Jack desperately misses Connie, his brave, kind friend, after their tearful goodbye when her ship set sail. As bombs set the skies ablaze, he listens to an old radio for any news about the dangerous Atlantic crossing. When he intercepts a secret message that could change everything, he races to the war office. Will they listen to a young lad like him, and can he save Connie and countless other lives?

It’s publication day for The Lost Orphans, the very first installment in our brand new series, The Runaway Evacuees!

Buy your copy now!

Available in ebook, Kindle Unlimited, paperback, and audiobook.

London, 1941. “Help me, Jack” is Elsie’s last thought as the building crashes down around her and everything goes dark. Will she ever see her big brother again?

The war has robbed eight-year-old orphan Elsie of everything except her older brother Jack. Evacuated together, hand in hand they escaped a cruel farming family only to find their home destroyed, their mother gone. Wide-eyed Elsie hasn’t spoken since, and every night she cries for her mother, and for their father, lost at war.

Wandering under the falling ash, their stomachs twist with hunger and Jack knows he cannot protect Elsie alone. But everything changes when they join a rag-tag band of orphans, runaway evacuees who’ve returned to the city just like them. With nothing left to lose, the children stay above ground as Nazi planes fly overhead, determined to help others. But as they risk their lives, who will protect them?

Then during a night of terrible bombing, the unimaginable happens. Elsie disappears. Their faces streaked with tears, Jack and his friends search through the flames and smoke, knowing she has no voice to respond to their cries. Will anyone find her before it’s too late? And will the lost orphans ever find a safe home?

The first book in our brand new series, The Runaway Evacuees!

Out on 23 July 2025. Pre-order now from Amazon! Available in ebook, paperback, Kindle Unlimited. Audiobook to follow.

London, 1941. “Help me, Jack” is Elsie’s last thought as the building crashes down around her and everything goes dark. Will she ever see her big brother again?

The war has robbed eight-year-old orphan Elsie of everything except her older brother Jack. Evacuated together, hand in hand they escaped a cruel farming family only to find their home destroyed, their mother gone. Wide-eyed Elsie hasn’t spoken since, and every night she cries for her mother, and for their father, lost at war.

Wandering under the falling ash, their stomachs twist with hunger and Jack knows he cannot protect Elsie alone. But everything changes when they join a rag-tag band of orphans, runaway evacuees who’ve returned to the city just like them. With nothing left to lose, the children stay above ground as Nazi planes fly overhead, determined to help others. But as they risk their lives, who will protect them?

Then during a night of terrible bombing, the unimaginable happens. Elsie disappears. Their faces streaked with tears, Jack and his friends search through the flames and smoke, knowing she has no voice to respond to their cries. Will anyone find her before it’s too late? And will the lost orphans ever find a safe home?

Join me in Huddersfield on 8th May as I lift the lid on what was fact and what was very definitely fiction in Netflix's smash hit, The Crown! 

Click here for tickets.

"If you were one of many gripped by Netflix’s smash-hit factual drama The Crown, you probably wondered how true to life this Royal Family saga was. In this special Festival event in partnership with Merrie England, Huddersfield-based historian Catherine Curzon reveals the real stories behind the drama, based on research for her latest book The Royal Family vs ‘The Crown’. 

For six seasons, royal watchers across the globe have been hooked on The Crown. Over 60 episodes, multiple casts and headline-grabbing storylines, The Crown has promised to throw open the closed doors of Britain’s palaces to reveal the deepest secrets of the House of Windsor.  

Catherine Curzon’s new book The Royal Family vs ‘The Crown’ turns the spotlight on the glittering Netflix series and lays bare what is fact and what is very definitely fiction. Season by season, episode by episode, it tells the real stories behind the drama that has thrilled and scandalised audiences worldwide: from the abdication of a king to Princess Diana’s infamous Panorama interview, the marriage of Charles and Camilla and everything in between."

For six seasons, royal watchers across the globe have been hooked on Netflix’s smash-hit factual drama, The Crown. Over sixty episodes, multiple casts and headline-grabbing storylines, The Crown has promised to throw open the closed doors of Britain’s palaces to reveal the deepest secrets of the House of Windsor. From the last days of George VI to the accession of Queen Elizabeth II and into the twenty-first century, it has told the story of the monarchy in an ever-changing and turbulent world.

The Royal Family vs 'The Crown' turns the spotlight on the glittering Netflix series and lays bare what’s fact and what is very definitely fiction. Season by season, episode by episode, The Royal Family vs 'The Crown' digs deep into history to examine the plots, the trivia and the characters who have stepped out of the throne room and into the living room, telling the real stories behind the drama that has thrilled and scandalised audiences worldwide. From the abdication of a king to Princess Diana's infamous Panorama interview, the marriage of Charles and Camilla and everything in between, this is your indispensable guide to the true stories behind the streaming phenomenon.

Buy the book here.

Thank you, lovely bookstagrammers, for your fabulous reviews of Wartime Wishes for the Land Girls! It’s out now in ebook, Kindle Unlimited and paperback.

I love this series. Returning to Bramble Heath and the Land Girls is always a pleasure. This story is so much more than a war story. – BookedWithMel

I loved the whole story – KatieLuvsToRead

Wartime Wishes for the Land Girls is a bestseller, hitting the number one spot in 20th Century Historical Romance new releases! And you can get your copy now on Amazon!

 It was the Hollywood romance that warmed hearts and thrilled audiences, but the path to true love was littered with alcoholism, abandonment and bitter disappointments.

Humphrey Bogart had crawled up the hard way, leaving behind a childhood without affection for a life as the idol of millions. Bogie’s road to stardom had been long and tough, forging a superstar who hated being in the spotlight as much as he loved being in the bar. With three marriages to his name and a reputation as one of the hardest drinkers in Hollywood, happiness was always fleeting.

Lauren Bacall grew up in New York as the apple of her hard-working mother’s eye, dreaming of a life in the limelight. Modelling by day and tearing tickets at night, when she was summoned to Hollywood to make a screentest, young Betty Bacall grabbed it with both hands. There she was reborn as the vampish Lauren Bacall, a teenage nobody who would make her debut in To Have and Have Not opposite the quintessential Hollywood tough guy, Humphrey Bogart.

Nobody expected what came next, but the love affair between Bogie and Bacall took the world by storm. The Real Bogie & Bacall tells the story of two people whose romance shouldn’t have worked… but did.

 Our next WW2 saga, Wartime Wishes for the Land Girls, is available to request on Netgalley now!