About 	 Lucy Rycroft: Lucy is the founder of The Hope-Filled Family, a ministry encouraging Christian parents, carers and all those investing in the younger generation. She is the author of several books for adults and children, including Busy Family Devotional and the Mighty Girl, Mighty God series. She is mum to four children ages 11 to 16, who arrived by birth and adoption, and is married to Al, a church leader in York, England.

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A A Gill

About A D Swanston: Andrew Swanston read law at Cambridge, but was inspired to write by his lifelong interest in early modern history. His Thomas Hill novels – The King’s Spy, The King’s Exile and The King’s Return – are set against the backdrops of the English Civil War, Cromwell’s Commonwealth and the early Restoration respectively. He is also the author of Waterloo: The Bravest Man and Beautiful Star and Other Stories. His first historical thriller set during the reign of Elizabeth I – Incendium (published in paperback as The Incendium Plot) – introduced readers to the academic, lawyer and intelligencer Dr Christopher Radcliff, whose adventures continue in Chaos. Andrew Swanston lives in Surrey.

A D Swanston

A E Langsford

A G Hopkins

About A J Baime: A. J. BAIME is the New York Times best-selling author of The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War and Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. Both books are in development for major motion pictures. Baime is a longtime regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Popular Science, and Men’s Journal. He lives in Granite Bay, California. Visit him at facebook.com/ajbaime and trumanbook.com.

A J Baime

A J Jacobs

A J P Taylor

About A J Pollard: Anthony James Pollard is a British medieval historian, specialising in the fifteenth century and in particular the Wars of the Roses. A leading authority in the field, he is profesor emeritus of Teesside University. His books include North-Eastern England during the Wars of the Roses, Richard III and the Princes in theTower, Imagining Robin Hood: the Late Medieval Stories in Historical Context and Warwick the kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame.

A J Pollard

A J Rochester

About A K Benjamin: A K Benjamin is a clinical neuropsychologist and the author of Let Me Not Be Mad: A Story of Unravelling Minds.

A K Benjamin

About A L Berridge: A. L. Berridge read English at Oxford, and taught for ten years before moving into television, where her production credits range from period drama and thrillers to long-running soaps. She has written two previous novels, Top Ten besteller Honour and the Sword and In the Name of the King. Into the Valley of Death is her third novel.

A L Berridge

About A L Gaylin: Alison Gaylin's first job was as a reporter for a celebrity tabloid, which sparked a lifelong interest in writing about people committing despicable acts. More than a decade later, she wrote and published her Edgar-nominated first novel, HIDE YOUR EYES. 
 
She's since published nine more books, including the USA Today and international bestselling Brenna Spector suspense series, which has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony and Thriller awards and won the Shamus award. 
 
She lives in upstate New York with her husband, daughter, cat and dog.

A L Gaylin

A Maxwell-Hyslop

A McArthur

A P Wavell

About A S Webb: A.S. Webb is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Daughter of Chaos, the first instalment of The Dark Pantheon Trilogy. She is inspired by stories rooted in history and mythology, that push the boundaries of imagination and urge us to reflect on what it means to be human.

A S Webb

About A. A. Dhand / A. A. Dhand: A. A. Dhand is the author of six previous novels, and has been shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger Award. His DI Harry Virdee novels are currently being adapted for TV by the BBC. He was raised in Bradford and spent his youth observing the city from behind the counter of a small convenience store. After qualifying as a pharmacist, he worked in London and travelled extensively before returning to Bradford to start his own business and begin writing. The history, diversity and darkness of the city have inspired all his novels. For more information about A. A. Dhand and his books, follow him on X @aadhand, and on Instagram @aa_dhand.

A. A. Dhand

A. A. Gill

A. A. Milne

A. Anatoli

About A. B. Poranek / A. B. Poranek: A. B. Poranek grew up sharing her time between Ontario, Canada and rural Poland, and eventually completed a veterinary degree at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. A lover of mythology and history, she enjoys exploring both in her writing. Her debut novel, Where the Dark Stands Still, an instant New York Times bestseller, is an ode to Poland's folktales, while A Treachery of Swans transports readers to a world inspired by 17th century France.

A. B. Poranek

A. Bradley

About A. C. Grayling / A. C. Grayling: Professor A. C. Grayling is Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy, history, science and current affairs. For several years he wrote columns for the Guardian newspaper and The Times and was the chairman of the 2014 Man Booker Prize.

A. C. Grayling

About A. D. Miller / A. D. Miller: A.D. Miller is the author of Snowdrops, The Earl of Petticoat Lane and The Faithful Couple. Snowdrops was a bestseller and was shortlisted for many prizes including the Man Booker and the CWA Gold Dagger. It was translated into 25 languages. As Moscow Correspondent of The Economist A.D. Miller has travelled across the former Soviet Union and covered the Orange Revolution in Ukraine; he is now the magazine’s Culture Editor based in London. 
 
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Edward White

In February 1981 a 19-year-old nursery teacher’s assistant overnight became globally famous. In a frenzy of excitement, jumping every barrier of language and class, a new, overwhelming icon was conjured up. 
 
This is a guide to Dianaworld – the extraordinary hall-of-mirrors through which one young woman, the world’s media, the royal family, and everybody else stalked one another. Fashion-plate, breeder of heirs, role model, fantasy object, saint and sinner, Diana gripped the minds of millions of people in ways which were unique, complex and distressing. After her death, chased by paparazzi through a Paris traffic tunnel, an estimated 2.5 billion people watched her funeral. 
 
Edward White examines Princess Diana as the complex figure she was: a scion of a great aristocratic house, wife of the future king, mother of his heirs, an inspiration and delight to countless people for many years. And yet, of course: a human being inevitably and woefully underequipped either to deal with the horrors of the House of Windsor or control, or even lightly supervise, the Dianaworld she and others had created. This is a wonderful book, both admiring and incredulous, exuberant and melancholy.

Dianaworld

An Obsession

Hallie Rubenhold

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER BY THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE FIVE 
 
'Popular history you devour in one sitting' Sunday Times 
'Gripping' TLS 
'Unbelievably addictive' LUCY WORSLEY 
'I couldn't put it down' BONNIE GARMUS 
'Finely layered' Financial Times 
'Breath-taking' Spectator 
___________ 
 
On 1 February, 1910, vivacious music-hall performer, Belle Elmore, suddenly vanished from her north London home, causing alarm among her circle of female friends, the entertainers of the Music Hall Ladies’ Guild who demanded an immediate investigation. 
 
They could not have known what they would provoke: the unearthing of a gruesome secret, followed by a fevered manhunt for the prime suspect: Belle’s husband, medical fraudster, Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen. 
 
Hiding in the shadows of this evergreen tale is Crippen’s typist and lover, Ethel Le Neve – was she really just ‘an innocent young girl’ in thrall to a powerful older man as so many people have since reported? 
 
In this epic examination of one of the most infamous murders of the twentieth century, prizewinning social historian Hallie Rubenhold gives voice to those who have never properly been heard – the women. 
___________ 
 
PRAISE FOR STORY OF A MURDER: 
 
'Gripping and eye-opening' I-news, Book to Watch Out For 
 
'Reads like a great thriller. I inhaled it' Bella Mackie, bestselling author of How to Kill Your Family 
 
'A unique combination of sleuthing, storytelling and compassion' Lucy Worsley, bestselling author and historian 
 
'Fascinating. It's about time Belle became the hero of her own story' Val McDermid, bestselling author of the Karen Pirie series 
 
'As compelling as any crime drama' S J Parris, bestselling author of the Giordano Bruno series 
 
'I had my hand over my wide-open mouth…I can’t recommend it more: I will be thinking about it for a very long time. Rachel Joyce, bestselling author of The Homemade God 
 
'Takes us beyond the world of Dr Crippen into the lives impacted by him and the society in which he moved. Terrific' Ian Rankin, bestselling author of the Rebus series 
 
'Compelling to the very last page' Denise Mina, award-winning author of Reese’s Book Club pick, Conviction 
 
'Does for the Crippen Murder case what THE FIVE did for the victims of Jack the Ripper. Forensic research and insistent sympathetic writing. I loved it' PROFESSOR DAVID WILSON, BBC 1, The Crime 
Squad 
 
'Breathtaking. Rubenhold has not only produced a thrilling reassessment of a notorious crime, but an impressive portrait of an age' Spectator

Story of a Murder

The Crime of the Century retold by the Women History Forgot

The Wives, the Mistress and Dr Crippen

Adrian Tinniswood

'A whirling, waltzing panorama through the last carefree age of British nobility’ New Statesman 
 
In the decades before the First World War, the owners of the nation’s stately homes revelled in a golden age of glory and glamour. This was a time when the ancestral seats of ancient nobility stood side by side with the fabulous palaces of Jewish bankers and Indian princes, when dukes and duchesses mixed with self-made millionaires and society hostesses who had learned to dance in the chorus line. 
 
Adrian Tinniswood opens the doors to the country house during this glittering golden age, when – for the privileged few – life in the country house was the best life of all. 
 
‘Scintillating and brilliant, from a master of the subject’ Gareth Russell 
 
‘Shot through with Tinniswood’s signature sardonic wit and delicious one-liners... The range and scop of his book is breathtaking’ Country Life

The Power and the Glory

The Country House Before the Great War

Roderick Bailey

A remarkable true story about saving life in wartime, not taking it 
 
 'A story destined to be told. A fascinating history of blood for the front line. Humbling, awe inspiring and life affirming.' Sue Black, author of All That Remains 
 
The Lifesavers were a little-known band of men and women at the forefront of groundbreaking battlefield care in the Second World War. 
 
As part of a new and pioneering service, unconventional and iconoclastic, they pushed and pulled blood from hundreds of thousands of donors into the veins of battle casualties all over the world. Deploying expert teams – officially the smallest units in the British Army – who risked their own lives to reach the wounded and sick, they transformed survival rates with an impact comparable to that of penicillin. 
 
Among them were pre-war GPs, conscientious objectors and a communist doctor who had transfused his first casualty in the Spanish Civil War. Prominent was Gladwin Buttle, a larger-than-life dynamo, who, in North Africa, defied shortages by sending blood into the desert in cleaned-out whisky bottles and sterilizing kit with a broken-down steamroller. Directing was Lionel Whitby – ‘the greatest vampire the world has known’ he was called in 1945 – whose own life was saved in 1918 by blood transfused on the Somme. 
 
Their skills and innovations saw action in some of the most important battles in recent history, forging lifelines that allies sought to replicate but enemies – to their cost – did not. Some continue to inspire life-saving methods of emergency care today. 
 
Bestselling historian Roderick Bailey follows their trailblazing work from the start of the conflict to its end, from Dunkirk and El Alamein to Normandy and the Burmese jungle. Unearthed from rigorous research among diaries, letters and other first-hand accounts, The Lifesavers – a gripping narrative of the Second World War presented from an entirely new angle – tells the full tale for the first time.

The Lifesavers

The Trailblazers of the Second World War Who Took Blood into Battle

Eleanor Doughty

There are fewer than 5000 people who can genuinely claim to be members of the British aristocracy, and yet they loom large in the popular consciousness. We're fascinated by their houses and estates, their lives and loves, their foibles and eccentricities. And we entertain the strong suspicion that, while they may be fellow citizens, they are very far from being People Like Us. 
 
In Heirs and Graces Eleanor Doughty draws on her unparalleled access to a bewildering range of dukes, duchesses, earls and others to create a vivid picture of who they are and how they tick. En route she traces their progress from a post-war era when they and their like were described by one future Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer as 'selfish, depraved, dissolute and decadent' to their diverse current roles as guardians of vast ancestral mansions, farmers, financiers and much else beside. She looks at key rites of passage, from cradle, via boarding school to grave. And she tells stories of their ups and downs, and of the doings of the heroes and villains who fill their ranks. 
 
The result is a wonderfully rich, often amusing, always revealing account of the fortunes of the aristocracy over the past century and a series of fascinating glimpses into what it is like to be an aristocrat in Britain today.

Heirs and Graces

A History of the Modern British Aristocracy

Kim Willis

'This book is an act of excavation, and an act of remembering.' 
 
As Kim Willis drifts from the traditional path of marriage and motherhood, she yearns for a new set of stories to light her way. Here, she is pulled towards the source of the Severn, hearing whispers of ancient matriarchs: shape-shifting enchantresses, scaly nymphs and goddesses who once commanded our lands. These are no fair maidens, but powerful warrioresses and animalistic beasts, snaking along the edges of watery places where we meet the otherworld in the shadows. 
 
As she uncovers the ancient myths hidden in the rugged landscapes of the British Isles, the stories of women like Arianrhod, Melusine and Cerridwen awaken a forgotten power. Journeying from the Severn to Skye, Eryri to Northumberland, Kim discovers new magic in the tales of old, unveiling forgotten truths about grief and healing, while charting a new course through sisterhood and sexuality, fertility and freedom. 
 
Through the threads of folklore, history and landscape, Kim identifies a better way of being for modern women, and crafts a new vision for Britain where women are - and always were - a force of nature.

No Fair Maidens

A wild journey with the lost goddesses of Britain

David Turner

A ground-breaking history of modern Britain that puts the experiences of disabled people to the fore for the first time. 
 
Despite there being more than 16 million disabled people in the UK today, disability rarely features in mainstream accounts of our past. That absence is not down to any lack of evidence: it is a forgotten, suppressed history – the result of deliberate choices about whose histories matter. For the first time, this book puts disabled lives at the centre of the story of modern Britain. 
 
It tells a story of resistance and ingenuity, and often one of flourishing, full of people who refused to be silenced or pitied. We meet the seventeenth-century labourer, who fights accusations in court that he’s faking his disability – and wins; the eighteenth-century painter who signs her miniatures for royalty ‘without hands’; the nineteenth-century one-armed textile worker who turned his injury into activism, demanding reform in Parliament. From the mid-twentieth century, we see how disabled people got together to demand equality in education, housing, transport and the workplace – fighting for their right, not to be treated specially, but to lead ordinary lives like everybody else. 
 
For this ground-breaking and campaigning book, David Turner has unearthed countless forgotten voices and tales. He tells a story not about ‘progress’ led by doctors or philanthropists, but a ground-up history of ordinary people demanding dignity and justice. And by putting disabled people back into the national story, reveals a much fuller and richer history of modern Britain.

Disability

A History of Resistance

Imaobong Umoren

From the 1500s to the mid-twentieth century, the events that took place in the Caribbean – from conquest, colonisation and capitalism to racial slavery, revolution and migration – and the people who forged them played a seminal role in creating modern Britain and the Anglophone Caribbean. By the 1960s, Western global empires had begun to crumble. Yet the British Empire in the Caribbean did not end. Instead, colonialism was replaced with a new type of power whose impact can still be felt: neo-colonialism. 
 
Empire Without End offers a new interpretation of the British Empire, its enduring entanglement with the Anglophone Caribbean and the longevity of systemic racism. Taking a longer historical perspective starting in the period of European contact with the Caribbean and ending today, Imaobong Umoren looks at the impact and legacies of racial slavery to explore how later linked histories relating to capitalism, class, labour, war, political economy, poverty, gender and culture are crucial to telling the full story. In doing so, she sets out a compelling strategy to define our roles and responsibilities in challenging the legacy of colonialism and hierarchy – a legacy that continues to blight our society and our politics.

Empire Without End

A New History of Britain and the Caribbean

Anthony Delaney

'In this moving and revelatory book, Anthony Delaney gives a voice to women and men whose lives have been written out of history. At heart, Queer Georgians is about the triumph of love in adversity' Hallie Rubenhold 
 
‘A fascinating story, beautifully told . . . I was utterly enthralled from the first page to the last’ Tracy Borman 
 
‘Anthony Delaney is a superb public historian’ Dan Snow 
 
 
In this dazzling work of restorative history, Dr Anthony Delaney has traced the stories of people daring to challenge society's expectations, unearthing archives and court records to reveal the tragedies and the joys of queer life three centuries ago. From Mother Clap’s Holborn coffee house to the Ladies of Llangollen’s utopian homestead, Delaney breathes new life into the forgotten and offers radical new interpretations of celebrated figures such as Anne Lister and the Chevalier d'Éon. Queer Georgians is an invitation to view our shared history in a whole new light.

Queer Georgians

A hidden history of lovers, lawbreakers and homemakers

Sinclair McKay

With the threat of invasion from Hitler's forces looming large in 1940, men of all ages and backgrounds assembled under the banner of the Home Guard. A voluntary force much later nicknamed ‘Dad’s Army’, at its height there were almost two million volunteers prepared to defend every corner of the kingdom, including notable figures like George Orwell, A.A. Milne, and C.S. Lewis. Many women took part too, including in the Women's Home Defence Force which formed in 1941. 
 
Far from the stereotype of charming incompetence, the Home Guard were in fact entirely serious in their approach. Many volunteers had fought in World War One, and radical veterans from the Spanish Civil War taught these men and boys new techniques in lethal guerilla fighting. Chocolate-box village greens were re-imagined as bloody battlefields, with duties including rifle and mortar training, night-time patrols and manning anti-aircraft guns – all on top of volunteers’ everyday jobs. Yet all of this was underpinned by an essential good humour, with moments of levity and comradery vital in keeping up a much-needed spirit of defiance. 
 
Sunday Times bestselling author Sinclair McKay tells the remarkable story of these courageous, highly-trained and often pioneering men and women through original archival research, vivid storytelling and insights into the beloved television comedy which has shaped the national memory of the Home Guard. With its vibrant personalities and high nostalgia factor, 'Dad's Army' tells this extraordinary story in full colour.

Dad’s Army

The Glorious True Story of the Home Guard

Titch Cormack

War came to North Africa in June 1940. But it was over a year before a newly-formed SAS went into action. Until then, the fight belonged to an elite, top secret band of brothers called the Long Range Desert Group. 
 
They were Britain’s first special forces. 
 
Born out of a pre-war club of explorers, eccentrics and mavericks, the LRDG operated alone behind enemy lines, performing astonishing feats of navigation, endurance and survival, and paved the way for the SAS. 
 
Drawing on his own decade’s service with UK Special Forces, Titch Cormack brings to life the action-packed but little-known story of Britain’s original rogue heroes.

SAS 101

Monty Halls

"A thrilling story of bravery and resilience, superbly told” - DAN SNOW 
 
"The epic story of how ordinary men were trained and transformed to set Europe ablaze…” - BEAR GRYLLS 
 
"Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the true foundations of elite military operations.” - ALDO KANE 
 
In the summer of 1940, Britain was under siege. Poland, Belgium, Holland, Norway and France had already fallen, and the British army had been routed on the continent, leading to the chaotic evacuation at Dunkirk.In the rubble of the Allies' crumbled defence, Inverailort House was established as a new symbol of defiance. Signed off by Churchill himself, this austere building became an academy for the brightest and best of all Allied volunteers, where they were transformed from ordinary foot soldiers into a new breed of warrior – the commando. 
 
The list of instructors, advisors, and trainees that passed through Inverailort included some of the greatest fighting men of World War II: Lord Lovat, “Mad Mike” Calvert, Freddy Spencer Chapman, Tommy Macpherson, Fairbairn and Sykes, and both David and Bill Stirling, who would go on to form the SAS.Churchill’s Killing House tells, for the first time, the remarkable human story of those who created a new type of soldier, forged new techniques in battle, and ultimately led the way to Allied victory over fascism.

Churchill's Killing House

The Origins of World War II's Legendary Commando Fighting Force

Ciarán Murphy

Hurling is Ireland’s national game – a source of fascination and pride, even to people who have never played it. Ciarán Murphy, a lifelong club footballer, used to be one of those people. Then he spent a summer trying to play hurling with a tiny club in the West Waterford Gaeltacht. Along the way he embarked on a quest to understand the history, geography and mystique of this extraordinary sport. 
 
Old Parish is the club of Ciarán’s father, a club where relatives of his are still deeply involved, and possibly the only place brave (or stupid) enough to take on a forty-one-year-old newcomer to the game. Predictably (and at times hilariously), Ciarán finds out just how difficult a sport hurling is to pick up when you’re in your sporting dotage, up against men who’ve played it since childhood. 
 
Ciarán also explores why hurling is played in only half the country; he investigates the origins of hurling clubs’ antipathy to football and the difficulties of establishing hurling in new areas; he looks into the mysteries of hurley-making; and he seeks to understand why, when a hurling legend refers to the sport as ‘the greatest game ever played by any man’, he has to be taken seriously. 
 
Anyone who has ever watched hurling knows that it is something unique and extraordinary. Old Parish explains why.

Old Parish

Notes on Hurling

Louise Brangan

When the gates of the last Magdalene Laundry closed in 1996, Ireland moved on. Or so it seemed. 
 
'Compelling, measured and deeply felt' ANNE ENRIGHT 
'A terrific yet harrowing unearthing of Ireland's shadowland. A landmark book' RORY CARROLL 
 
Following independence in 1922, Ireland began to chase a dream: to become the perfect Catholic nation. But purity had a price. Throughout the twentieth century, thousands of women and girls who did not conform – the wayward, the poor, the disabled, the abused – were sent to the Magdalene Laundries. Each was perceived to have fallen in some way. Once locked inside, their hair was shorn off, their names were erased – and then they were put to work. They washed, they scrubbed and they prayed, labouring in an attempt to salvage their souls. 
 
This remains one of the darkest and most misunderstood periods of recent history. Published to coincide with the thirtieth anniversary of the last Laundry’s closure, The Fallen is the forgotten story of the Magdalene Laundries, told through the voices of the women who endured them, the nuns who presided over them and the communities that lived alongside them. 
 
Unflinching and compassionate, Louise Brangan draws on archives and survivors’ testimonies to dismantle long-held myths about what the Laundries were, who was sent to these places of violence and secrecy, and why. As we move from the past into the present, Brangan compels us not only to confront this shameful history, but to ask a deeper question: what do we choose to remember? 
 
'Critical, informed and beautifully written' MÁIRÉAD ENRIGHT 
'Breaking silence is a catalyst for change' CAELAINN HOGAN 
 
Winner of the 2024 Royal Society of Literature Giles St Aubyn Award

The Fallen

The Magdalene Laundries and Ireland’s Legacy of Silence

Gyles Brandreth

This is the intimate biography of our beloved Queen Elizabeth II, which tells the story of her remarkable life, reign and times, based upon unrivalled access to royal circles and from a perspective unlike any other. Gyles Brandreth writes the Queen's tale candidly with grace and sensitivity as someone close to the monarch, her husband Philip and the wider Royal family. 
 
Told with a refreshing dose of humour and moving honesty, Elizabeth is the must-have biography of the longest-serving monarch in English history, now complete with exclusive content about the 2023 coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.

Elizabeth

An intimate portrait from the writer who knew her and her family for over fifty years

Jimmy Tarbuck

In October 1963, Jimmy Tarbuck made his TV debut on Sunday Night at the Palladium, The young comedian stepped out on stage and brought the house down. Two years later, he was hosting the show. 
 
As a football-mad youngster, Jimmy's dream had been to play professionally for his beloved Liverpool FC. Meanwhile, his childhood friends John Lennon and Cilla Black shot to fame as chart-topping sensations of the Merseybeat phenomenon. But it was a gift for making people laugh that was to propel him to stardom. 
 
Hosting the biggest show on British TV, he found himself on telly every week introducing superstars like Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli and Rudolf Nureyev. Then he went to America and there he was on stage with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, chatting to Elvis in Vegas and chinwagging with Sinatra in Miami. This was a golden age for British entertainers, and he takes us back to the camaraderie of those days, remembering his old muckers Eric and Ernie, Tommy Cooper and Kenny Lynch, laughing together as they conquered the world. 
 
As his incredible story shows, Jimmy has gone through life seeing the funny side of everything and, even through tough times, he knows that laughter is always the best medicine. Read his autobiography for a big, joyful dose it.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

My autobiography

Rob Cowen

LONGLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2025 
 
‘A dazzlingly inventive work of literature’ Robert Macfarlane, author of The Old Ways'A wonderful, epic braiding of history, geography and personal memoir' James Rebanks, author of English Pastoral____________________________________________________________________At the heart of this book is a highway. The A1; The Great North Road. A 400-mile multiplicity of ancient trackway, Roman road, pilgrim path, coach route and motorway that has run like a backbone through Britain for the last 2,000 years. 
 
In this genre-defying and profoundly personal book, Cowen follows this ghost road from beginning to end on a journey through history, place, people and time. Weaving his own histories and memories with the layered landscapes he moves through, this is the story of an age, of coming to terms with time past and time passing, and the roads that lead us to where we find ourselves. 
 
Written in kaleidoscopic prose, The North Road is an unforgettable exploration of Britain’s great highway. 
_________________________________________________________________________ 
 
'Stunning and utterly unique. The North Road sits in a genre of one' Benjamin Myers, author of The Gallows Pole 
 
'A dazzling, dogged, layered account of one road’s passage through place, time and an ordinary family’s history, The North Road truly is a trip' Melissa Harrison, author of All Among The Barley 
 
'Thought-provoking and beautiful' Matt Gaw, author of Under The Stars 
 
'A beautifully woven and mesmerising book' Tom Bullough, author of Sarn Helen 
 
'Sweeping, sensitive and enduring' Tristan Gooley, author of How To Read A Tree 
‘Rob has given the A1 an entirely new sense of life’ Luke Turner, author of Out Of The Woods

The North Road

Lanre Bakare

**AN OBSERVER, GQ, ESQUIRE AND INEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR** 
 
This is the lost story of a hidden Britain. A Black Britain. One that existed outside London and rewrites our idea of British culture. 
 
Rocked by economic turmoil, the rise of the National Front, heavy-handed anti-immigration policies and widespread civil unrest, Thatcher’s Britain was in tumult. And yet, all around this nation, Black creativity, community and resistance flourished like never before. 
 
From Bradford’s towering mills and Northern Soul’s euphoric dance floors to the multicultural docks of Cardiff Bay and rolling hills of rural Britain, from Rastafarians and rugby stars to artists and activists, Lanre Bakare unearths the overlooked places and people who made Britain what it is today. Alive with energy and purpose, We Were There is a dazzling, profoundly important new portrait of modern Britain and a shared legacy which belongs to us all.

We Were There

How Black culture and community shaped modern Britain

How Black culture, resistance and community shaped modern Britain

Kapka Kassabova

'Brave, intense, unexpected, lyrical and troubling' Rory Stewart 
 
An extraordinary portrait of the Scottish Highlands: this is an epic and urgent story of destruction and renewal, told through unforgettable encounters with its people. 
 
This is the story of a Scottish glen and its inhabitants, and of how I came to call it my glen. 
 
From the powerful rivers that bring life and prosperity, to the Pictish cairns, undisturbed for centuries and the meadows of bluebells, from which deer emerge, god-like, in a flash, Kapka Kassabova reveals a world that has been abused, but remains achingly beautiful and alive. 
 
In the Highlands, centuries-old connections between the land, nature and people have been, and continue to be, shaken by the forces of colonialism, industry, depopulation and private property speculation. 
 
Borrowed Land tells the stories of those who are working against this disconnect: the last true Highlanders, fighting to preserve their home. 
 
'A poetic and haunting anatomy of what happens when a world is addicted to extraction' James Crawford 
 
'Stark and moving. A hymn, a howl and a call to action all at once' Ben Rawlence 
 
'A brilliant, daring and urgent account’ Sally Huband

Borrowed Land

A Highland Story

Helen Carr

From the bestselling author Helen Carr, a thrilling new history of the fourteenth century – a time of catastrophe and conflict that shaped England for centuries to come. 
 
***THE TOP TEN BESTSELLER*** 
 
'A sparkling popular history which brings the Middle Ages' most terrible century to life for a new generation' 
Dan Jones 
 
'Tells the story of the 14th-century Plantagenets with verve' 
The Times 
 
'A highly engaging re-evaluation of a tumultuous century' 
Observer 
 
 
The death of Edward I in 1307 marked the beginning of a period of intense turmoil and change in England. The fourteenth century ushered in the beginning of the bloody Hundred Years’ War with France, an epic conflict with Scotland that would last into the sixteenth century, famine in Northern Europe and the largest human catastrophe in known history, the Black Death. 
Through the epic drama of regicide, war, the prolonged spectre of bubonic plague, religious antagonism, revolt and the end of a royal dynasty, this book tells the story of the fourteenth century via the lives of Edward II, Edward III and Richard II – three very different monarchs, each with their own egos and ambitions, each with their own ideas about England and what it meant to wield power. 
 
Alongside the lives of the last Plantagenets, it also uncovers lesser-known voices and untold stories to give a new portrait of a fractured monarchy, the birth of the struggle between Europeanism and nationalism, social rebellion and a global pandemic. 
 
Sceptred Isle is a thrilling narrative account of a century of revolution, shifting power and great change – social, political and cultural – shedding new light on a pivotal period of English history and the people who lived it. 
 
Praise for Sceptred Isle 
'A sweeping look at an era of upheaval, panic and change. Gripping, powerful history' 
Hallie Rubenhold 
 
'A cannily timed new history... [Sceptred Isle] tells the story of the 14th-century Plantagenets with verve' 
The Times 
 
'A highly engaging re-evaluation of a tumultuous century' 
Observer 
 
'Informative, anecdotal and entertaining... So many of the events of that tumultuous century find echoes today' 
Financial Times 
 
'Gripping... Carr is an eloquent guide to the human realities of a century that often has a hallucinatory quality: vivid, desperate and haunting in its glories and its terrors' 
Spectator 
 
'Fast-paced and thrilling... a remarkably evocative account of the high drama, excessive bloodshed and significant societal change during this tumultuous age... hugely enjoyable' 
Country Life 
 
'Excellent' 
Clive Anderson, Loose Ends (BBC Radio4) 
 
'In this vivid, finely researched book, Helen Carr takes us deep into England’s deadly fourteenth century and finds life and human colour. This is a sparkling popular history which brings the Middle Ages' most terrible century to life for a new generation' 
Dan Jones 
 
'Full of colour, with headlong energy, Sceptred Isle brings England’s calamitous fourteenth century to life vividly. While Fortune’s Wheel turns through cycles of famine, plague and war, Helen Carr’s engrossing narrative never loses sight of the complexity, and hope, of human experience' 
Helen Castor

Sceptred Isle

A New History of the Fourteenth Century

Joanne Paul

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.

Thomas More

A Life and Death in Tudor England

Harry Shukman

WINNER OF THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD 
 
'A tense account of going undercover inside Britain's far-right groups. At times it reads like a novel... only the stakes are real' Sunday Times 
 
‘Important and courageous’ James O’Brien 
 
Harry Shukman led a double life. Friends and family knew him as a journalist, but unbeknownst to them he was secretly infiltrating the British far right. Equipped with a hidden camera, he posed as 'Chris' and set out to expose right-wing extremists. 
 
From canvassing with Britain First to befriending Holocaust deniers, neo-Nazis and a Silicon Valley-backed race-science organisation, Shukman again and again risked his safety and sanity to remove the far right’s terrifyingly everyday mask. 
 
Now, we must ensure it stays off.'Boldly and bravely, Shukman achieves something only the best novels manage. He sits with far-right activists long enough to understand them, and in doing so, makes the movement far more frightening and far more human than any polemic ever could' Lea Ypi 
 
'Brave and humane, Harry Shukman delivers a nuanced and insightful portrait of a world many of us would prefer not to see' Graham Norton 
 
'Year of the Rat reads like the perfect thriller. Nail bitingly tense, darkly funny, unexpectedly compassionate and urgently important. I was caught up with it from the first page' Esther Freud 
 
'The rise of the far-right is one of biggest and most challenging stories around, and Harry tells it with clarity, compassion and humour. There are episodes in the book that could be set pieces in a fine novel, they really stay with you. And I found his personal bravery humbling and inspiring' Sathnam Sanghera'Year of the Rat is that rare thing: investigative journalism with the nerve of a thriller and the wit of a great piece of reportage… Courageous, sharply observed and very timely' Johanna Thomas-Corr

Year of the Rat

Undercover in the British Far Right

Patrick Maguire

Gabriel Pogrund

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, Get In is the definitive behind-the-scenes account of Labour’s brutal reinvention and dramatic return to power. 
 
From electoral wipeout in 2019 to landslide victory in 2024 and on into Labour’s first hundred days in government, Get In is a blistering exposé of the most significant and ruthless political transformation in a generation. 
 
At its heart is Morgan McSweeney, a mastermind of political subterfuge and author of a strategy to eviscerate the party, bury the left and rebuild it as a vote-winning machine. In Starmer he saw the perfect vessel for his vision: a man with no political identity but burning with ambition and a single all-consuming principle: to win. 
 
Drawing on unrivalled access throughout the party and extensive leaks of internal party documents and WhatsApp messages, Get In shows how together they betrayed and marginalised Corbyn and his followers, then forged a path in which promises, and at times principles, were readily discarded in pursuit of power. 
 
Richly peopled with the major figures of Labour present and past, this is the coming-of-age story of Britain's government. In an era in which faith in politics has plummeted, this is how to game your way to the ultimate prize. But what on earth do you do when you get there? 
 
'The book about Keir Starmer we have all been waiting for' TIM SHIPMAN 
 
'Stuffed full of scoops . . . revealing who's really in charge' LAURA KUENSSBERG 
 
'A remarkable piece of journalism' RORY STEWART

Get In

The Inside Story of Labour Under Starmer

Fern Riddell

'Weep with me for we all have lost the best, the truest heart that ever beat!' 
 
From the moment John Brown arrived as a servant to Queen Victoria's household, he became known across the land as her loyal companion, her fierce protector, and her right-hand man, their friendship immortalised in print and on-screen. But what if there was more to their relationship than we know? And what has history been hiding from us? 
 
In this passionate and provocative exploration of Victoria's private passions, the acclaimed historian Fern Riddell re-examines everything we thought we knew about one of Britain's most iconic women. A timeless romance and an extraordinary retelling of the emotional life of a queen, Victoria's Secret is an unmissable account of a woman in love.

Victoria's Secret

The Private Passion of a Queen

Russell Myers

From the relentless media scrutiny and controversies of their 2022 Caribbean Tour to the shock cancer diagnoses of both the Princess of Wales and the King, this captivating biography by acclaimed royal expert Russell Myers intimately traces the story of William and Catherine’s relationship from their earliest meeting at St Andrews University to the present day. 
 
Drawing on exclusive access to numerous palace insiders, it offers never-before-told context about the biggest stories to have followed the Prince and Princess of Wales in recent years – including the Sussex departure, the forming of the ‘Cambridge way,’ and the death of Queen Elizabeth II – and provides an unprecedented glimpse into their private lives. 
 
Highlighting the couple's resilience and dedication in the face of adversity, William and Catherine presents a deeply personal perspective on how the events the Prince and Princess have weathered together will shape their vision for a modern monarchy – as they set out to secure its safe continuation at a time of extreme change and turmoil.

William & Catherine

The Intimate Inside Story

Emily P Webber

The story of the last generation of British miners: fathers and sons, brothers and comrades, big hitters and broken men, strikers and scabs. 
 
'A compelling, unflinching account…full of tales of tragedy, gallows humour and camaraderie’ The Times 
 
What happened to Britain's last generation of miners? Combining new personal interviews with extensive archival research, Emily P. Webber illuminates the extraordinary history of the industry once considered the backbone of Britain. 
 
By situating the miners’ strike of 1984–85 in a longer history of the coalfields, we can understand why miners and their families fought so hard against pit closures, and what happened after the pit wheels stopped turning. Vivid, evocative and richly alive with minute detail, Mining Men explores what the mining industry once meant to its workers and their communities, and what Britain lost when it was gone. 
 
'Fascinating... An engaging history of post-war British mining' Daily Telegraph 
 
'Absorbing and enjoyable...an illuminating peek into the lives of those who risked everything to warm our hearths' The Herald

Mining Men

Britain’s Last Kings of the Coalface

Andy Webb

Andy Webb exclusively reveals the true extent of the deception Princess Diana experienced at the hands of BBC reporter Martin Bashir before giving her iconic 1995 Panorama TV interview, and how the cover-up that followed left the vulnerable princess to her fate. Andy Webb, the journalist who obtained the secret files that first broke the story, offers unrivalled insider access to the key players in a thrilling narrative spanning thirty years, from the moment Bashir made his first move in 1995 to the 2024 courtroom where Webb faced the BBC's elite legal squad to demand access to highly contested documents relating to the scandal. Filled with revelations that have not yet entered the public record, Dianarama will become a key part in the first draft of history.

Dianarama

The Betrayal of Princess Diana

Charles King

'A delicious history of music, power, love, genius, royalty and adventure. Unforgettable' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFORE 
 
'A mesmerising journey through one of the most fascinating and creative moments in human history' AMANDA FOREMAN 
 
London - Dublin, 1741-42. 
An actress mired in scandal plans her escape from an abusive husband. 
A penniless sea captain sets out to rescue the city’s abandoned infants. 
An African Muslim and former captive in the colonies becomes a celebrity. 
A grieving political dissident seeks release from his torment. 
And a great composer to kings – George Frideric Handel – now ill and straining to keep an audience’s attention, faces a decision that will secure his place in history. 
 
'An absolute delight, beautifully told' PETER FRANKOPAN 
 
Evoking a pivotal moment at the birth of modernity, a time of fear, conspiracy and uprising, and featuring some of the most unusual and brilliant personalities of the eighteenth century, Every Valley is a cinematic and moving drama of hope in the darkness and the entangled lives that shaped a masterpiece. 
 
'Fascinating...cinematic...truly informative, imaginative and engaging' Financial Times

Every Valley

The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times that Made Handel’s Messiah

The Story of Handel’s Messiah

Rory Stewart

From the author of the Sunday Times no. 1 bestseller Politics on the Edge and co-host of The Rest is Politics 
 
Rory Stewart spent nearly a decade as MP for Britain’s most rural constituency, Penrith and the Border. As he came to know and love this part of Cumbria, he found inspiration in the beauty of its landscape, its rugged history as a frontierland, and in the spirit of its people. 
 
Drawing on pieces originally written for a local newspaper, Middleland is an urgent and inspiring portrait of rural Britain today – a place caught in tensions between farming and the natural world, between the need to preserve and to grow, between local and national politics – as well as a timeless evocation of the history, people and landscape of Cumbria. 
 
These are stories of beauty and ingenuity, which also show us what a better politics might look like.

Middleland

Dispatches from the Borders

Helen Castor

Richard of Bordeaux and Henry Bolingbroke were first cousins, born just three months apart. Their lives were from the beginning entwined. When they were still children, Richard was crowned King Richard II with Henry at his side: a ten-year-old lord in the service of his ten-year-old king. Yet they soon grew up to be opposites: Richard was the white hart, a thin-skinned narcissist, and Henry the eagle, a chivalric hero, a leader who inspired loyalty where Richard inspired only fear. Increasingly threatened by his charismatic cousin, Richard became consumed by the need for total power, and the stage was set for a final confrontation. This is a story about a nation brought to the brink of catastrophe – and two men whose lives were played out in parallel, to devastating effect.

The Eagle and the Hart

The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that. But in this world, there are two moons in the sky. Discover the 1Q84 Trilogy by Haruki Murakami.

1Q84

365 Days of Art

A BBC Christmas

A Black Book Thriller

A Box Full of Murders

A Cal Leandros Novel

A Christmas Mystery

The intelligent and capable police commissioner Guido Brunetti confronts crime in and around his home town of Venice.

A Commissario Brunetti Mystery

A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series

A Daisy Story

Chronicling the lives of over three hundred characters, unrivalled for its scope and humour, this is a unique evocation of life in twentieth-century England.

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