Cora Hazelton | Atmospheric Historical Fiction

About Cora

Hi, I’m Cora.

I write atmospheric novels about family secrets, buried histories and the echoes of the past.

I have a lifelong fascination with old places, from castles and historic factories to open-air museums, and I love lingering over the small details that make a historical setting feel lived-in.

Being a gardener’s daughter probably explains why I have always had a particular soft spot for old gardens and orangeries tucked into historic estates. I’m equally happy wandering through an open-air museum, imagining how everyday life once looked and felt, and filing away those impressions to make the worlds in my books more believable.

Hauntingly beautiful songs often find their way into my stories, too. And when summer comes around, you may well find me at Wuthering Heights Day, celebrating a book that has stayed with me for years.

A small personal moment

The Books

Two stories. Two different doors into the past.

Atmospheric historical fiction, each with its own house, its own secrets and its own history waiting to be uncovered.

Historical Fiction · Dual Timeline

The Secret of the Wild Roses

A grand old house, a forgotten garden, two generations and a story that refuses to stay buried.

EnglandFamily secretsOld houses

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Historical Fiction · Dual Timeline

The Emerald Room

A beautiful old villa, a wallpaper factory, a young woman’s ambitions and a family secret hidden for generations.

Devon · 1899England · 1981Wallpaper & design

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My Historical World

I have always loved the details.

Old houses, gardens, museums, stonework and the objects people leave behind are what make historical settings feel real to me. I collect those impressions wherever I go and carry them back into my writing.

I’m a gardener’s daughter, so I have a particular soft spot for old gardens and orangeries tucked into historic estates. And I love wandering through open-air museums, imagining how people once lived and what everyday life might have felt like. Those small observations often make their way into my books.

Historic architecture — I’m always looking at how architecture, gardens and colour work together.

Historic country house — Grand houses make me wonder about the lives unfolding behind the windows — and what a garden might have meant to the people who lived there.

Historic church — I love the quiet sense of time you get from places that have witnessed generations.

Historic medieval architecture — Stone, timber and the shape of an old town are often enough to make me start imagining another time.

Historic building in an open-air museum — I love wandering through open-air museums, looking at ordinary buildings and imagining how everyday life might have unfolded inside them. Those small observations often find their way into my books.

For ARC Readers

Would you like to read my stories before everyone else?

I’m looking for readers who enjoy atmospheric historical fiction, old houses, family secrets and stories that move between past and present.

If that sounds like you, I’d love to have you on my Early Reader Team.

Join the Early Reader Team

The Emerald Room and The Secret of the Wild Roses by Cora Hazelton