Showing results by author "Honor Cargill" in All Categories

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.

Friday 4th February. It feels like I've only been asleep for a minute but I can't risk being late for school today - the Very Important Witches are coming! Bea Black is determined to become the best witch she can be and learn everything about magic. So when a school visit from some very important guests is announced, Bea is thrilled! It's her chance to help Little Spellshire School for the Extraordinary Arts and show off what she's learned so far.

Elektra is hoping for big things this year.... She's finished her first feature film (even if her character was unexpectedly killed off halfway through filming), hosted the party of the year (well, before her mum arrived and threw everyone out - how embarrassing!) and managed to become Archie Mortimer's actual real-life girlfriend (for now anyway...), so things are most definitely moving in the right direction. But with social media to navigate (#actinggoals #instanightmare), GCSEs looming and a seemingly never-ending parade of failed casting calls, Elektra's road to acting stardom is proving to be as rocky as ever.

When Elektra is discovered by an acting agent, she imagines Oscar glory can't be far away but instead lurches from one cringe-worthy moment to the next! Just how many times can you be rejected for the part of 'Dead Girl Number Three' without losing hope? And who knew that actors were actually supposed to be multilingual, play seven instruments and be trained in a variety of circus skills? Offstage things aren't going well either - she's fallen out with her best friend and remains firmly in the friend zone with her crush, and her parents are driving her crazy. One way or another, Elektra's life is now spent waiting for the phone to ring - waiting for callback.

Elektra has finally landed a part in a film. It’s the dream. Well...until she works out that Straker is a movie so dystopian that within weeks most of the cast and all of the crew wish that the world had actually ended (preferably in scene one). And while it’s obviously great news that she’s moved from the friend zone with Archie to become his almost-girlfriend, it would be better if he hadn’t immediately relocated to Transylvania to play a vampire hunter surrounded by ‘maidens of peerless beauty'....