At Kim’s blog, Outtakes of a Historical Novelist, you’ll find posts about history, writing, and anything else that inspires her or piques her curiosity. Kim is also a contributor to Unusual Historicals and English Historical Fiction Authors.
Kim Rendfeld Outtakes of a Historical Novelist
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The Story of the Story: How ‘A Thing Done’ Came to Be
by Kim Rendfeld on January 8, 2020 at 11:01 am
"A Thing Done" started life as footnotes—one in a translation of Dante’s Inferno, others in history books covering the 13th century in Florence.Continue reading →
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Hail Mary Over the Centuries
by Kim Rendfeld on December 18, 2019 at 11:05 am
It’s only 11 lines, but the Hail Mary, or Ave Maria, took almost a millennium to develop into the form we know today.Continue reading →
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Rosary Beads: Steeped in Devotion and Legend
by Kim Rendfeld on November 20, 2019 at 11:05 am
Christians, and people of other faiths, have used beads to keep track of the prayers they were repeating for centuries. Continue reading →
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Dark Ages Tragedy: The Baby in the River
by Kim Rendfeld on October 23, 2019 at 10:00 am
A medieval peasant woman was about to draw water from the river. What she saw in the water horrified her: a drowned newborn in swaddling.Continue reading →
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Cats in the Days of King Arthur
by Kim Rendfeld on October 2, 2019 at 10:00 am
In 5th-century Britain, housecats, along with ferrets and weasels, had the essential job of killing rodents that would otherwise eat the stored grain humans needed to get through winter. Romans introduced housecats to Britain in the 1st century. Continue reading →