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£10.99
Henry VIII’s reign transformed the physical and spiritual landscape of England. Magnificent, tyrannical, a strong ruler, a ‘pillager of the commonwealth’, this most notorious of kings remains a figure of extreme contradictions: a devout traditionalist who oversaw a cataclysmic rupture with the church in Rome; a talented, charismatic, imposing figure who nevertheless could not bear to meet people’s eyes when he talked to them. In this revealing new account, John Guy explores how Henry himself understood the world and his place in it – from his sheltered and increasingly isolated upbringing and the blazing glory of his accession; to his desperate quest for recognition, fame and an heir, and the terrifying paranoia of his last, agonising, 54-inch-waisted years – and in doing so casts new light on his choice of wives and ministers, his impact on the European stage, and his extraordinary legacy.
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£10.99
The tragedy of Charles I dominates one of the most strange and painful periods in British history as the whole island tore itself apart over a deadly, entangled series of religious and political disputes. In Mark Kishlansky’s account it is never in doubt that Charles created his own catastrophe, but he was nonetheless opposed by men with far fewer scruples and less consistency who for often quite contradictory reasons conspired to destroy him. This is a portrait of one of the most talented, thoughtful, loyal, moral, artistically alert and yet, somehow, disastrous of all this country’s rulers.
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£10.99
Edward VI, the only son of Henry VIII, became king at the age of 9 and died wholly unexpectedly at the age of 15. All around him loomed powerful men who hoped to use the child to further their own ends, but who were also playing a long game – assuming that Edward would outlive them and become as commanding a figure as his father had been. This book gives full play to the murky sinister nature of Edward’s reign, but is also an account of a boy learning to rule, learning to enjoy his growing power and to come out of the shadows of the great aristocrats around him. England’s last child monarch, Edward would have led his country in a quite different direction to the catastrophic one caused by his death.
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£10.99
For a man with such conventional tastes and views, George V had a revolutionary impact. Almost despite himself he marked a decisive break with his flamboyant predecessor Edward VII, inventing the modern monarchy, with its emphasis on frequent public appearances, family values and duty. George V was an effective war-leader and inventor of ‘the House of Windsor’. In an era of ever greater media coverage – frequently filmed and initiating the British Empire Christmas broadcast – George became for 25 years a universally recognised figure. He was also the only British monarch to take his role as Emperor of India seriously.
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£20.00
An unconventional view of the First World War from inside the glittering social salon of Downing Street: a story of unrequited love, loss, sacrifice, scandal and the Prime Minister’s wife, Margot Asquith.
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£25.00
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s death, Boris Johnson explores what makes up the ‘Churchill factor’, the singular brilliance of one of the most important leaders of the 20th century. Taking on the myths and misconceptions along with the outsised reality, he portrays a man of multiple contradictions, contagious bravery, breathtaking eloquence, matchless strategising, and deep humanity.
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£20.00
One of the greatest feats in Patrick Leigh Fermor’s remarkable life was the kidnapping of General Kreipe, the German commander in Crete, on 26 April 1944. He and Captain Billy Moss hatched a daring plan to abduct the general, while ensuring that no reprisals were taken against the Cretan population. Dressed as German military police, they stopped and took control of Kreipe’s car, drove through 22 German checkpoints, then succeeded in hiding from the German army before finally being picked up on a beach in the south of the island.
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£20.00
In January 1649, the King of England, Charles I, was executed. He had been sentenced to death by a tribunal of 135 men and, of those, 59 signed the death warrant. In a powerful tale of revenge from a dark and little-known corner of English history, Charles Spencer explores what happened when the Restoration arrived and retribution was brought against those who condemned the king. From the men who returned to the monarchist cause and betrayed their fellow regicides to those that fled the country in an attempt to escape their punishment, Spencer tells the incredible story of the men who dared to kill a king.
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£25.00
Reviled as a Machiavellian schemer who stopped at nothing in his quest for power, Thomas Cromwell was also a loving husband, father and guardian, a witty and generous host, and a loyal and devoted servant. With new insights into Cromwell’s character, his family life and his close relationships with both Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII, Tracy Borman, joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces, examines the life, loves and legacy of the man who changed the shape of England forever.
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£30.00
A Downing Street diary with a difference; offering a unique record and a fascinating insight into the British government during WWI, written by Margot Asquith, the wife of the prime minister, H. H. Asquith.
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£18.99
In the summer of 1889, young Southern belle Florence Maybrick stood trial for the alleged arsenic poisoning of her much older husband, Liverpool cotton merchant James Maybrick. ‘The Maybrick Mystery’ had all the makings of a sensation: a pretty, flirtatious young girl; resentful, gossiping servants; rumours of gambling and debt; and torrid mutual infidelity. The case cracked the varnish of Victorian respectability, shocking and exciting the public in equal measure. ‘Did She Kill Him?’ is Kate Colquhoun’s absorbing account of addiction, deception and adultery at the very heart of Victorian society.
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£25.00
A carefully chosen selection from the correspondence of Hugh Trevor-Roper, one of the most gifted and famous historians of his generation and one of the finest letter-writers of the twentieth century
