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Non-fiction to read if you love Bridgerton

An Aristocratic Affair

The scandalous life of Georgiana's sister, Harriet Spencer - Countess of Bessborough.

(A) highly readable biography...(an) intelligent and wonderfully vivid portrait.

A truly absorbing window on a unique period of history - and an entirely unique woman.

(An) enthralling biography ... conveyed with style and brio.

The life of Harriet Spencer, Countess of Bessborough, was one of both respectability and high scandal. The aristocracy of the eighteenth century were the A-list celebrities of the day; their lives, loves, fashions and misfortunes avidly reported in the press. They dominated the political world as well as the social, and Harriet was at the very heart of this powerful clique. She was born into the wealth and privilege of the Spencer family - and was the great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales. Following in the train of her sister, the charismatic Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Harriet became one of the most glamorous and influential women of the Regency age. 
 
At a time when marriage was an aristocratic woman's only career choice, Harriet made an excellent match, to Frederick, Viscount Duncannon. But the marriage proved unhappy and Harriet soon embarked on a series of illicit affairs, including one with the charismatic playwright Richard Sheridan. In Naples she met and fell in love with the handsome young aristocrat Lord Granville Leveson Gower, a man twelve years her junior. And so began the affair that became the last, untold story of enduring love in the Regency period, an open secret within just a tiny circle. It only ended when Granville married her niece, Georgiana's daughter, taking into his care the two illegitimate children he had by Harriet. 
 
Harriet's was a life intertwined with public scandal, royal intrigue and high political drama. She was petted and spoiled by Marie Antoinette; she witnessed the French Revolution and George III's madness. She successfully dodged the Prince Regent's amorous advances; quarrelled bitterly with Byron, when her daughter Caroline Lamb embarked on a scandalous affair with him; and travelled through war-torn Europe during the rise and fall of Napoleon. She survived her sister Georgiana by twenty years, living to see the Battle of Waterloo and the coronation of George IV. An Aristocratic Affair opens a window on aristocratic life at its most intimate, and brings one of the Regency period's most colourful characters vividly to life.

The Moneymaker

The fascinating story of John Law, inventor of paper money, mathematical genius and inveterate gambler.

'Excellent . . . Gleeson is exemplary in her lucidity. If you can imagine Keynes' General Theory rewritten by the Marx Brothers you will have some idea of this remarkable book.'

Three hundred years ago, a charismatic young gambler and man-about-town with a natural gift for mathematics fled London for the Contintent. His name was John Law and he had a good reason to go, having killed a man in a duel. 
 
Living off his lucrative winnings at the gaming tables of Europe, Law became increasingly fascinated by the nature of finance and journeyed to the impoverished , famine-stricken France of Louis XIV with an extraordinary idea. At the time when wealth was stored and exchanged as gold and silver coin - and there was rarely enough to fund the extravagance of kings, let alone trade - Law realised that the overriding problem was lack of available money. He reasoned that if this could be lent in the form of paper, properly backed by assets, then it could be lend repeatedly and credit used to multiply the opportunities for the making of money. 
 
Such a radical notion meant Law faced opposition from powerful vested interests. His persistence paid off in 1716 when, with royal backing, he established the first French bank to issue paper money. He also created a trading company which made its shareholders rich beyond their wildest dreams: so much so that the new term 'millionaire' was coined to describe them. 
 
What follows is the stuff of epic drama: a tale of fortunes won and lost, of paupers made rich and lords losing all. And in telling this enthralling tragi-comic story, Janet Gleeson brings to life two fascinating characters who together would change the way the world worked: the inscrutable John Law, and mercurial money itself.

The Thief Taker

A compelling new 18th century whodunnit from the acclaimed author of THE GRENADILLO BOX.

'Colourful and wildly entertaining...A wonderful read'

'A delicious five-course banquet: a murder mystery is succeeded by an abandoned infant weepie, a love story, a social history and, finally, a richly flavoured, full-bodied, 18th-century whodunnit...You'll be kept guessing right up until the last page in this splendid novel'

'A compulsive page-turner which will appeal especially to anyone who was spellbound by Charles Palliser's The Quincunx'

Agnes Meadowes is cook to the Blanchards of Foster Lane, the renowned silversmiths. Her quiet world of culinary activity, preparing jugged hare, oyster loaves, almond soup and other delicacies for the family, is a happy refuge from the hustle and bustle of 1750s London. But in a single night everything is to change: the Blanchards' most prestigious and expensive commission, a giant silver wine cooler destined for the house of Sir Bartholomew Grey, is stolen and a sinister chain of events is set in motion. A young apprentice is murdered and a young maid, Rose, disappears. Are these portentous happenings connected? 
Called upon by her master to investigate 'below stairs', Agnes enters a dark world of hidden secrets, jealousy and murderous intent. Before the game is played out she will be forced to act as mouse to the infamous Thief Taker's cat as she is drawn into a seamy underworld of London crime. And the truth comes at a high price: she must decide how big a sacrifice she is prepared to make to bring the villains to justice. 
Boasting a heroine who's going to win a multitude of admirers, THE THIEF TAKER is a spellbinding novel of crime, chicanery and cooking.

The Grenadillo Box

A supremely accomplished and richly imagined historical whodunnit from the bestselling author of THE ARCANUM and THE MONEYMAKER.

'Mystery and intrigue set in 18th century London...colourful and wildly entertaining. A wonderful read'

'An auspicious fiction début...engaging and enjoyable'

'Brings alive the clatter of carriages and the seedy, unsanitary alleys and thoroughfares of London...the research is impeccable...utterly convincing...the faultless historical perspective carries the reader willingly to the end'

'After cutting her teeth on two highly acclaimed factual books, art and antiques expert Janet Gleeson has put her specialist knowledge to good use in her first work of fiction...A fascinating tale of murder and intrigue'

'A compulsive page-turner...will appeal especially to anyone who was spellbound by Charles Palliser's The Quincunx'

'A delicious five-course banquet...a richly flavoured, full-bodied, 18th-century whodunnit ...You'll be kept guessing right up until the last page in this splendid novel'

'Gleeson's first novel is a supremely juicy - a nd gory - murder mystery centring on the 18th-century workshops of Thomas Chippendale.'

It is New Year's Day 1755 and Nathaniel Hopson, journeyman to the famous cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale, finds himself drawn into a chilling affair. While working at the country home of Lord Montfort, Nathaniel discovers his patron shot dead in his magnificent new library. The conclusion seems obvious: burdened with gambling debts and recently possessed of a melancholic nature, Montfort must have taken his own life, but Nathaniel is not convinced. While the gun near Montfort's hand suggests suicide, what of the blood on the windowsill and the confusion of footprints on the library floor? And there is another strange detail: the small, elaborately carved box of rare grenadillo wood clutched in the aristocrat's lifeless hand. 
No sooner has Nathaniel been set up as a most unlikely investigator than another body is found, frozen and cruelly mutilated. Nathaniel's detachment is shattered. He knows the victim well - but what was he doing on Montfort's country estate? Nathaniel's investigation will take him from palatial drawing rooms to the slums of Fleet Street and London's Foundling Hospital, where the identity of a child abandoned twenty years ago may hold the key to the mystery. But someone has already killed to keep this secret and each step Nathaniel takes on his journey is a step further into danger. 
 
As intricately crafted as a Chippendale cabinet, THE GRENADILLO BOX is both an utterly irresistible detective story and a vibrant recreation of eighteenth-century England, and marks the fiction debut of this supremely accomplished writer.

The Serpent In The Garden

Another compelling murder mystery set in the eighteenth century from the acclaimed author of The Grenadillo Box.

'Gripping...Gleeson's evocation of the period is meticulously researched and her plotting is neat and controlled...a good yarn'

An irresistible follow-up to acclaimed THE GRENADILLO BOX: 
'Colourful and wildly entertaining...A wonderful read'

'As attractively crafted as the box itself'

'Masterful...the sheer weight of events carries you on...a cheerful whodunnit'

Full of Chippendale-style hidden compartments...her narrative is absolutely enchanting'

Summer, 1765. The renowned portrait painter Joshua Pope is eager to escape London and his unhappy past and accepts a commission to paint a wedding portrait for Herbert Bentnick and his bride-to-be, Sabine Mercier. 
 Joshua learns that the couple are avid horticulturalists. Bentnick's country house, Astley, in Richmond, is famous for its verdant gardens, designed by the master landscape artist Capability Brown. Sabine Mercier, who has lived most of her life in the Indies, is an expert in growing pineapples, the fruit of choice at the grandest dinner parties and an inspiration to artists and craftsmen. 
 But soon after Sabine begins to cultivate pineapples in the vast conservatory at Astley, she discovers a body among her plants. Why, wonders Joshua Pope, is so little attention paid to this bizarre death? Why do Bentnick's children regard their future stepmother with suspicion and fear? And what connection does Sabine's daughter Violet have with the dead man? 
 Outraged that any life can be valued so lightly, Joshua begins to investigate the death. But then Sabine's valuable emerald necklace disappears, and he is implicated. His need to discover what has happened at Astley suddenly becomes more pressing. Can Joshua solve the mystery before his reputation is ruined? And, more immediately, can he stay alive long enough to do so? 
 
Following her acclaimed début, THE GRENADILLO BOX, Janet Gleeson has written another compelling tale of murder and mystery set in an exquisitely and authentically rendered Georgian England.

The Arcanum

'Breathtaking...a story which has everything: greed, wars, revolution, financial chicanery, industrial sabotage, betrayal and bloodshed'

'The author's background research is as admirable as her storytelling...intended to be the next Longitude, and it deserves to be'

'Extremely readable...worthy of Dumas, a rich brew of jealousy, betrayal and industrial espionage...fascinating'

'A remarkably exciting story, told with suitable panache'

'Extraordinary...a history so replete with bile, jealousy, war, fornication, betrayal and backstabbing that it could fuel a TV miniseries...Readable, enlightening and amusing'

'A wonderful and gripping story...bears comparison to Dava Sobel's Longitude'

'An extraordinary story of greed, obsession and betrayal. Gleeson tells it brilliantly'

Imprisoned in a fairy-tale castle and under constant threat of execution by his ruthless captor an 18th century apothecary struggled to realize the alchemist's dream. His name was Johann Frederick Bottger. But instead of transforming base metal into gold he was to discover the formula for something even more exotic and elusive, a substance so precious it was known as 'white gold'. And it was a formula for which others were prepared to lie, cheat, steal and even kill to possess. 
 
This was the remarkable backdrop to one of the most strange and compelling episodes in European cultural and scientific history; a tale of genius and greed, of demonic cruelty and exquisite beauty, of the best and worst of which man is capable - it is the true story of the invention of European porcelain.

Ronnie Archer-Morgan

Janet Gleeson

Life as a pinball [. . .] all the time absorbing history and art and adventurous travel. A black man pursuing culture and pursued by prejudice, pinging against the glamour and the pitfalls of the antiques trade. A surprising story, like many of the objects he appraises on the Antiques Roadshow.

Kate Adie, broadcaster and bestselling author

Ronnie has told me stories from his past over our years together on the Antiques Roadshow. But, reading his autobiography, all I can say is, yes, I am surprised. Is there anything he hasn't done? Ronnie has overcome a heart-breaking start in life to achieve great success and no one deserves it more. What a dude, what a life!

A gripping memoir about overcoming an abusive childhood...A fascinating rollercoaster read, very well told..full of devastating cruelty and remarkable strokes of luck

There is so much more to Ronnie than meets the eye. Reading everything he has overcome and all that he has achieved gives you a deeper, richer understanding of the man and why he finally feels able to count his blessings.

A brilliant memoir by Ronnie Archer-Morgan. His is a mercurial memoir of a meritorious life.

Told with warmth and candour, this 'memoir of finding life's treasures' is involving, surprising and memorable.'

'Ronnie has overcome a heart-breaking start in life to achieve great success and no one deserves it more. What a dude, what a life!' - Fiona Bruce 
 
'Brilliant...a mercurial memoir of a meritorious life.' - Lemn Sissay 
 
For decades, Ronnie Archer-Morgan has brought to life the fascinating, often surprising backstories behind our most cherished heirlooms and household objects on the Antiques Roadshow. Now, he tells his own unlikely story. 
 
 Born in the fifties to a Sierra Leonean mother battling mental health problems, Ronnie spent his childhood in and out of care. After difficult beginnings, marked by abuse, racism and brushes with both criminals and the police, he got into music, managing to get DJ gigs and, later, worked as a celebrity hairdresser for Vidal Sassoon and Smile in the height of seventies London. A flair for spotting antiques led him to start his own Knightsbridge gallery, ultimately becoming one of the most respected figures in the industry, culminating in a regular spot as an expert on the nation's Sunday favourite, Antiques Roadshow. 
 
 Told with rich warmth, this is an extraordinary journey from deprivation and abuse to adventure and success against the odds - with stories of the incredible objects which shaped the way. 
 
'A surprising story, like many of the objects he appraises on the Antiques Roadshow' - Kate Adie, broadcaster and bestselling author 
 
'A fascinating, rollercoaster read, very well told.' - Times

Janet Gleeson

Praise for Would It Surprise You To Know…?

Life as a pinball [. . .] all the time absorbing history and art and adventurous travel. A black man pursuing culture and pursued by prejudice, pinging against the glamour and the pitfalls of the antiques trade. A ...

Ronnie has told me stories from his past over our years together on the Antiques Roadshow. But, reading his autobiography, all I can say is, yes, I am surprised. Is there anything he hasn't done? Ronnie has overcome ...

A gripping memoir about overcoming an abusive childhood...A fascinating rollercoaster read, very well told..full of devastating cruelty and remarkable strokes of luck

Life as a pinball [. . .] all the time absorbing history and art and adventurous travel. A black man pursuing culture and pursued by prejudice, pinging against the glamour and the pitfalls of the antiques trade. A ...

Ronnie has told me stories from his past over our years together on the Antiques Roadshow. But, reading his autobiography, all I can say is, yes, I am surprised. Is there anything he hasn't done? Ronnie has overcome ...

A gripping memoir about overcoming an abusive childhood...A fascinating rollercoaster read, very well told..full of devastating cruelty and remarkable strokes of luck

Life as a pinball [. . .] all the time absorbing history and art and adventurous travel. A black man pursuing culture and pursued by prejudice, pinging against the glamour and the pitfalls of the antiques trade. A ...

Ronnie has told me stories from his past over our years together on the Antiques Roadshow. But, reading his autobiography, all I can say is, yes, I am surprised. Is there anything he hasn't done? Ronnie has overcome ...

A gripping memoir about overcoming an abusive childhood...A fascinating rollercoaster read, very well told..full of devastating cruelty and remarkable strokes of luck

Books by Janet Gleeson

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