A New History of Tudor England. A TIMES Book of the Year 2022

The House of Dudley

Told for the very first time, this is the shocking and extraordinary story of the most-conniving and manipulative Tudor family you've never heard of . . . 
 
'A tour-de-force of Tudor history. Remarkable' DAN JONES 
'Exciting and immersive. An immensely entertaining history' SUNDAY TIMES 
'This is riveting stuff: death, desire, power and scandal' SPECTATOR 
'A twist on the Tudors . . . Enormously entertaining - a sheer joy to read' THE TIMES 
________ 
 
Was the House of Dudley out to steal the throne? 
 
This was the question on the mind of Elizabeth I's courtiers when a forbidden book accused generations of the Dudley family of poisonings, plottings, murders, treason, incitement and other 'evil stratagems.' 
 
For decades, the Dudleys had been close to the throne, rising from nobodies to the land's highest offices. 
 
Under Henrys VII and VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and, finally, Elizabeth, they risked execution and imprisonment as they audaciously stole, murdered and swindled in the name of the monarch. 
 
But were they loyally protecting the crown, or did they secretly covet it for themselves? 
________ 
 
A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 ACCORDING TO THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH AND HISTORY TODAY 
 
'A pacy narrative, vividly written, makes you want to read on and on. Joanne Paul is a major new talent in the field' ALISON WEIR 
 
'Breathes new life into an old and familiar Tudor story . . . It's delightful, a joy to read' THE TIMES, 'BOOK OF THE WEEK' 
 
'A thrilling and deeply researched study of power and conspiracy: the rise and fall of the other Tudor dynasty. The House of Dudley illuminates the fascinating men and women who almost became kings and queens in their own right' SIMON SEBAG-MONTEFIORE 
 
'Rich and compelling. Conjures up the look and feel of Tudor life . . . You will find yourself drawn in, fascinated, and richly informed' TELEGRAPH 
 
'Vivid, innovative and authoritative. I could not recommend The House of Dudley more highly. It's a real lesson in how to revitalise the writing of Tudor history' SARAH GRISTWOOD 
 
'A full-blooded affair, as good on the horrors of war as it is on the soft power of the Dudley women, and written in a lively, episodic style that presents each Dudley as a foil to the monarch they served' JESSIE CHILDS 
 
'An enthralling read told by Paul with great verve and an eye for the telling detail' LITERARY REVIEW 
 
'The crowning jewel in its genre . . . I can't recommend this book enough. Unputdownable' LINDSEY FITZHARRIS 
 
'When reading Joanne Paul's lively history of the house of Dudley, it is impossible not to be reminded of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy' MAIL ON SUNDAY 
 
*The House of Dudley: Named one of The Times Books of the Year 2022*

A tour-de-force of Tudor history, as seen through the eyes of a family with a front-row view of almost every major political event in sixteenth-century England. Remarkable

Dan Jones, Sunday Times bestselling author of Powers and Thrones

Exciting and immersive. An immensely entertaining history, capturing in full Tudor brilliance the cut-throat glamour of the English throne and the most audacious family to play its game

House of Dudley is a full-blooded affair, as good on the horrors of war as it is on the soft power of the Dudley women, and written in a lively, episodic style that presents each Dudley as a foil to the monarch they served

Breathes new life into an old and familiar Tudor story. [She] negotiates the labyrinth of Tudor politics with skill, producing a book much more comprehensible and illuminating than others I've read . . . It's delightful, a joy to read

I am hugely impressed by The House of Dudley and by the depths of research. 
This is a pacy narrative, vividly written, that makes you want to read on and on. 
Joanne Paul is a major new talent in the field and I eagerly await her next book

This is riveting stuff: death, desire, power and scandal. Paul has made the most of it, producing a well written and historically grounded page-turner . . . Game of Thrones looks tame compared with the real-life machinations of the Dudleys and the Tudors

A twist on the Tudors . . . Enormously entertaining - a sheer joy to read

The Times, '25 BEST HISTORY BOOKS OF 2022'

A hugely entertaining history of three generations of the Dudley family, who dominated the Tudor court

A thrilling and deeply researched study of power and conspiracy: the rise and fall of the other Tudor dynasty. The House of Dudley illuminates the fascinating men and women who almost became kings and queens in their own right

Vivid, innovative and authoritative. I could not recommend The House of Dudley more highly. It's a real lesson in how to revitalise the writing of Tudor history

Joanne Paul's account of this family is rich and compelling. She manages to hit that sweet spot where scholarly history overlaps with dramatic storytelling; she conjures up the look and feel of Tudor life, down to the clothes, the medicines and the furniture, while also being a skilful filler-in of political background . . . Whether or not you have ever succumbed to Mantelmania, you will find yourself drawn in, fascinated, and richly informed

An enthralling read told by Paul with great verve and an eye for the telling detail . . . The family's complex history is concisely and compellingly related

Visceral and illuminating. The extraordinary House of Dudley is the Tudor Game of Thrones. Paul has produced a painstakingly detailed first book with spirit and verve

Captivating and thought-provoking . . . Sheds immense light onto this often-overlooked family

The crowning jewel in its genre . . . I can't recommend this book enough. Unputdownable

When reading Joanne Paul's lively history of the house of Dudley, it is impossible not to be reminded of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy . . . Paul uses the experiences of the Dudleys to light up odd corners and backroom spaces of Tudor palace life

Joanne Paul chronicles the meteoric rise and deadly fall of the Dudleys

Joanne Paul reveals how the might of the Tudor dynasty was built on the blood and sweat of three generations of another family - the Dudleys

Joanne Paul is a writer, broadcaster, consultant, and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Intellectual History at the University of Sussex. A BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker, her research focuses on the intellectual and cultural history of the Renaissance and Early Modern periods. She has written for the Cambridge University Press 'Ideas in Context' series, and has been widely praised for her work on Thomas More, William Shakespeare, Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes. Her current academic project is an edition of Thomas More’s Utopia for the Oxford University Press. 
 
Her first book for the trade, The House of Dudley was published in 2022. Thomas More: A Life was published in May 2025.

Was the House of Dudley out to steal the throne? 
 
This was the question on the mind of Elizabeth I's courtiers when a forbidden book accused generations of the Dudley family of poisonings, plottings, murders, treason, incitement and other 'evil stratagems.' 
 
For decades, the Dudleys had been close to the throne, rising from nobodies to the land's highest offices. Under Henrys VII and VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and, finally, Elizabeth, they risked execution and imprisonment as they audaciously stole, murdered and swindled in the name of the monarch. 
 
But were they loyally protecting the crown, or did they secretly covet it for themselves?

Joanne Paul

To show us More as other than saint or villain, [Paul's] readable biography immerses us in More's busy, messy and changing world ... engrossing

Fans of The House of Dudley – and , indeed , of Wolf Hall and A Man for All Seasons - will find much to enjoy in this immersive , richly told account of life , death , faith and politics at the early Tudor court

Wonderful, riveting, subtle. Captures beautifully the life of More and the fading world he died to preserve. 
Paul skilfully conveys the stakes, achieving balance between expertise and style

Paul is brilliant at bringing the swirl of Catholic England to life: its candlelit rituals, Latin prayers and saints’ days, punctuated by tinkling royal processions

Significant. Goes further than most in seeking the essentials of the 'historical' More. Paul is terrific at evoking the sights and spaces of early 16th-century London, along with the forms and feel of clothing and objects. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, much to admire and enjoy

THE definitive biography of one of history’s most complex and often inscrutable characters

NATHEN AMIN, author of Son of Prophesy: The Rise of Henry Tudor

Joanne Paul has created a portrait of Thomas More that is epic, intimate and profoundly relatable to the modern reader. In Paul’s hands he is neither overly good nor bad; he just is. We are in a new age of tyrants – Thomas More shows the necessity of speaking truth to power at all costs

LEAH REDMOND CHANG, Women’s Prize longlisted historian of Young Queens

Forget […] Hilary Mantel’s caricatures. In this excellent study, Thomas More is reborn as a complex, absorbing man

A work of proper scholarly history as well as a wonderful narrative read...Joanne Paul goes back to the words More wrote himself, to try and get at More before fame and the accusations against him took hold. I so enjoyed the result

Paul gives us a movingly human picture of a family man, scholar, politician and, ultimately, political martyr. As compelling as a novel, the story of More's rise and fall is vividly told

Death, desire, power and scandal - this is riveting stuff. Paul produces a well-written, historically grounded page-turner

Brilliant and lucid. This is an original and illuminating work

Absorbing, meticulously researched and expertly executed

A Life and Death in Tudor England

Thomas More is one of the most famous – or infamous – figures in English history. Is he a saintly scholar and an inspiration for statesmen, socialists and intellectuals even today? Or is he the stubborn zealot famously portrayed in Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall? 
 
Here is the definitive biography of this hypnotic, flawed figure. Overturning many interpretations of the sixteenth century, Joanne Paul shows More to have been an intellectual and political giant of his age, central to the making of modern Europe. Drawing on new archival discoveries and over a decade's research into More's life and work, this is a richly-told story of family, faith and politics.

Joanne Paul

Praise for Thomas More

To show us More as other than saint or villain, [Paul's] readable biography immerses us in More's busy, messy and changing world ... engrossing

Fans of The House of Dudley – and , indeed , of Wolf Hall and A Man for All Seasons - will find much to enjoy in this immersive , richly told account of life , death , fa ...

Wonderful, riveting, subtle. Captures beautifully the life of More and the fading world he died to preserve.
Paul skilfully conveys the stakes, achieving balance between expertise ...

To show us More as other than saint or villain, [Paul's] readable biography immerses us in More's busy, messy and changing world ... engrossing

Fans of The House of Dudley – and , indeed , of Wolf Hall and A Man for All Seasons - will find much to enjoy in this immersive , richly told account of life , death , fa ...

Wonderful, riveting, subtle. Captures beautifully the life of More and the fading world he died to preserve.
Paul skilfully conveys the stakes, achieving balance between expertise ...

To show us More as other than saint or villain, [Paul's] readable biography immerses us in More's busy, messy and changing world ... engrossing

Fans of The House of Dudley – and , indeed , of Wolf Hall and A Man for All Seasons - will find much to enjoy in this immersive , richly told account of life , death , fa ...

Wonderful, riveting, subtle. Captures beautifully the life of More and the fading world he died to preserve.
Paul skilfully conveys the stakes, achieving balance between expertise ...

Books by Joanne Paul

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Praise for Thomas More

To show us More as other than saint or villain, [Paul's] readable biography immerses us in More's busy, messy and changing world ... engrossing

Fans of The House of Dudley – and , indeed , of Wolf Hall and A Man for All Seasons - will find much to enjoy in this immersive , richly told account of life , death , fa ...

Wonderful, riveting, subtle. Captures beautifully the life of More and the fading world he died to preserve. Paul skilfully conveys the stakes, achieving balance between expertise ...

To show us More as other than saint or villain, [Paul's] readable biography immerses us in More's busy, messy and changing world ... engrossing

Fans of The House of Dudley – and , indeed , of Wolf Hall and A Man for All Seasons - will find much to enjoy in this immersive , richly told account of life , death , fa ...

Wonderful, riveting, subtle. Captures beautifully the life of More and the fading world he died to preserve. Paul skilfully conveys the stakes, achieving balance between expertise ...

To show us More as other than saint or villain, [Paul's] readable biography immerses us in More's busy, messy and changing world ... engrossing

Fans of The House of Dudley – and , indeed , of Wolf Hall and A Man for All Seasons - will find much to enjoy in this immersive , richly told account of life , death , fa ...

Wonderful, riveting, subtle. Captures beautifully the life of More and the fading world he died to preserve. Paul skilfully conveys the stakes, achieving balance between expertise ...

Books by Joanne Paul

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter

Wonderful, riveting, subtle. Captures beautifully the life of More and the fading world he died to preserve.
Paul skilfully conveys the stakes, achieving balance between expertise ...

Wonderful, riveting, subtle. Captures beautifully the life of More and the fading world he died to preserve.
Paul skilfully conveys the stakes, achieving balance between expertise ...

Wonderful, riveting, subtle. Captures beautifully the life of More and the fading world he died to preserve.
Paul skilfully conveys the stakes, achieving balance between expertise ...