82ASK

A A Gill

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

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

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

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

A K Benjamin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. 
 
admillerbooks.com

A. D. Miller

A. E. Ellis

A. E. W. Mason

A. Humphreys

A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979 and lives in Lagos. He is a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition, the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His short story collection, Love is Power, or Something Like That, was published in 2013. In 2014 he was named on the Africa39 list of sub-Saharan African writers under 40. Blackass is his first novel.

A. Igoni Barrett

The short life of A.J.A. Symons (1900-41) was described by his biographer as an intricate and largely harmless confidence trick. His many interests included the collection of musical boxes and rare books as well as the study and practice of forgery; they left him time to edit an anthology of Edwardian verse and compose studies of H.M. Stanley and other notable figures. He is remembered for The Quest for Corvo, one of the most remarkable biographies ever written, and for co-founding the Wine and Food Society.

A. J. A. Symons

PublicationStatus

Brand

Format

AgeRange

Series

Imprint

CategoryLabel

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

Terry Stiastny

The true story of the the misfits and mavericks who waged psychological warfare against the Nazis 
 
September, 1939. While Britain hovered on the brink of the Second World War, a team of unlikely and ill-assorted characters assembled in their secret headquarters. They had left their civilian roles as politicians, journalists, novelists and spies, advertisers, artists and even forgers, to work for a covert government organisation. Their goals: to weaken enemy morale, sow confusion and encourage resistance. In the ‘hush-hush’ village of Aspley Guise near Woburn Abbey (8 miles from the codebreakers at Bletchley Park), they set to work. 
 
The once top-secret wartime efforts of the Political Warfare Executive were remarkable in their variety and inventiveness – from pornographic leaflet drops to rumour campaigns, underground publications and fake French and German radio shows. But to break Nazi morale, these men and women found themselves skirting the edges of their own morality. What do you lose when you deploy lies – even brilliant, believable lies – to achieve your ends?

Believable Lies

The Misfits Who Fought Churchill's Secret Propaganda War

Michael Meyer

‘Makes the case for Annie Besant as a truly eminent Victorian, as brilliant and fearless as she was beautiful’ The Times 
_________ 
 
London, 1877. A petite young woman stands before an all-male jury, about to risk everything. She takes a breath, and opens her defence. 
 
Annie Besant and her confidant Charles Bradlaugh are on trial for the crime of publishing a birth control pamphlet. Remarkably, Annie is defending herself against obscenity charges 45 years before women can practice law in England. At a time when women were expected to be obedient, Annie’s fearless voice was a sensation and spotlighted issues of sex, censorship and morality. 
 
A Dirty, Filthy Book tells the gripping story of a little-known pioneer who refused to accept the role that the establishment assigned her, and chose instead to resist.

A Dirty, Filthy Book

Annie Besant’s Fight for Reproductive Rights

Sex, Scandal, and One Woman’s Fight in the Victorian Trial of the Century

Jo Teeuwisse

**An International Bestseller** 
 
Fake news about the past is fake history. 
 
Did Hugo Boss design the Nazi uniforms? 
Did medieval people think the world was flat? 
Did Napoleon shoot the nose off the Sphinx? 
*Spoiler Alert* The answer to all those questions is no. 
 
From the famous quote 'Let them eat cake' - mistakenly attributed to Marie Antoinette - to the apocryphal horns that adorned Viking helmets, fake history continues to shape the story we tell about who we are and how we got here. With doctored photographs, AI-generated images and false claims about the past circulating in the news and on social media, separating fact from fiction seems harder than ever before. 
 
Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse, better known as The Fake History Hunter, is on a one-woman mission to hunt down fake history and reclaim the truth for the rest of us. 
 
In this fascinating and illuminating book, Teeuwisse debunks 101 myths so you can correct your friends and family, and arm yourself with the tools to spot and debunk fake history wherever you encounter it.

Fake History

101 Things that Never Happened

Tom Petch

'Awesome!' ANDY McNAB | 'You must read this book' Colonel TIM COLLINS OBE | 'Extraordinary' Sir RANULPH FIENNES 
 
Forget what you thought you knew. Discover the REAL story of how the SAS was created. 
 
From ex-SAS Commander Tom Petch, this is the never-before-told story of how the world's preeminent Special Forces came into existence. Flashing between dramatic accounts from the frontlines and power negotiations in Westminster, it's an adventure that reaches from the trenches of the Western Front to piracy in the deserts of North Africa, to the final assault on Germany. 
 
Drawing on hidden archives and told with captivating drama, it focuses on two characters largely overlooked in the traditional narrative - Dudley Clarke the mastermind, and William Fraser the frontline operator. Without them there would never have been an SAS. 
 
'Gripping and fascinating... Packed with unforgettable characters and thrilling adventures' WILL IREDALE, bestselling author of The Pathfinders

Speed, Aggression, Surprise

The Secret Origins of the Special Air Service

The Untold Secret Origins of the SAS

Hannah Rose Woods

** A FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN AND GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR ** 
 
'A must read' - Janina Ramirez, bestselling author of Femina 
 
'An eye-opening history of Britain's enduring fixation with its own past' - Jeremy Paxman 
 
'Rule, Nostalgia announces Woods as one of the most interesting new historians of her generation' - Dan Snow 
 
 
Longing to go back to the 'good old days' is nothing new. For hundreds of years, the British have mourned the loss of tradition and called for a revival of 'simpler', 'better' ways of life, from modern politicians indulging in fantasies of an imperial past, to Victorian artists yearning to retreat into a medieval dream of Merry England. But were the 'good old days' ever quite how we remember them? 
 
Rule, Nostalgia is a surprising, timely new history of Britain that separates the history from the fantasy and traces back to its origins the powerful influence that nostalgia's perpetual backwards glance has had on British history, politics and society.

Rule, Nostalgia

A Backwards History of Britain

Janina Ramirez

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Femina 
'Ramirez blasts a powerful spotlight into the so-called Dark Ages' - Dan Snow 
 
Skulduggery, power struggles and politics, The Private Lives of the Saints offers an original and fascinating re-examination of life in Anglo-Saxon England. Taking them down from the clouds of their heavenly status, Sunday Times bestselling author and renowned Oxford historian Dr Janina Ramirez explores the real lives of the legendary, seminal saints. 
 
This landmark book provides a unique and captivating new lens through which to explore the rich history of the Dark Ages.

The Private Lives of the Saints

Power, Passion and Politics in Anglo-Saxon England

Catherine Mayer

The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller 
 
'Breathtaking' The Times 
 
'[The book that] made headlines around the world.' Independent 
 
The former Prince of Wales has lived his whole life in the public eye, yet he remains an enigma. He was born to be king, but he aims much higher. A landmark publication, Charles: The Heart of a King reveals Charles in all his complexity: the passionate views that mean he will never be as remote and impartial as his mother; the compulsion to make a difference and the many and startling ways in which the Prince and now King of the United Kingdom and fifteen other realms has already made his mark. 
 
The book offers fresh and fascinating insights into the first marriage that did so much to define him and an assessment of his relationship with the woman he calls, with unintended accuracy, his 'dearest wife': Camilla, now Queen Consort. We see Charles as a father and a friend, a serious figure and a joker. Life at court turns out to be full of hidden dangers and unexpected comedy. 
 
Now, updated and revised with a new preface and two new chapters - covering details of Harry and Meghan's exit and its implications, the cash-for-honours scandal, Prince Andrew, and more - this significant study reveals a monarchy threatened and a man in sight of happiness yet still driven by anguish and a remarkable belief system, a charitable entrepreneur, activist, agitator and avatar of the Establishment who just as often tilts against it. 
 
Based on multiple interviews with his friends and courtiers, palace insiders and critics, and rare access to Charles himself, before his kingship, this biography explores his philanthropy and his compulsive interventionism, his faith, his significant impact on politics and the philosophy that means when he seeks harmony he sometimes creates controversy. 
 
Gripping, at times astonishing, often laugh-out-loud, this is a royal biography unlike any other. 
 
'A must-read ... this important book is nothing short of a manual to our future King's world-view' GQ 
 
'A sustained piece of higher journalism' Independent

Charles: The Heart of a King

Will Iredale

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER! 
 
Military History Matters Book of the Year Bronze Award Winner 
'Compelling... sensitive, colourful and moving' -- Saul David, Telegraph 
'Fascinating and utterly gripping' -- James Holland 
'Absorbing' -- Daily Mail Book of the Week 
 
The incredible story of the crack team of men and women who transformed RAF Bomber Command and helped the Allies deliver decisive victory over Nazi Germany. 
 
 The Pathfinders were ordinary men and women from a range of nations who revolutionised the efficiency of the Allies' air campaign over mainland Europe. They elevated Bomber Command - initially the only part of the Allied war effort capable of attacking the heart of Nazi Germany - from an impotent force on the cusp of disintegration in 1942 to one capable of razing whole German cities to the ground in a single night, striking with devastating accuracy, inspiring fear and loathing in Hitler's senior command. 
 
 With exclusive interviews with remaining survivors, personal diaries, previously classified records and never-before seen photographs, The Pathfinders brings to life the characters of the airmen and women - many barely out of their teens - who took to the skies in legendary British aircraft such as the Lancaster and the Mosquito, facing almost unimaginable levels of violence from enemy fighter planes to strike at the heart of the Nazi war machine.

The Pathfinders

The Elite RAF Force that Turned the Tide of WWII

Harald Jähner

THE TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLER 
***SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION*** 
***SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE*** 
***SHORTLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE*** 
 
A Book of the Year 
The Times * Sunday Times * Telegraph * New Statesman * Financial Times * Irish Independent * Daily Mail 
 
'A masterpiece' SPECTATOR 
 
'Exemplary [and] important... This is the kind of book few writers possess the clarity of vision to write' MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMES 
 
'Magnificent... There are great lessons in the nature of humanity to be learnt here' TELEGRAPH 
 
 
Germany, 1945: a country in ruins. Cities have been reduced to rubble and more than half of the population are where they do not belong or do not want to be. How can a functioning society ever emerge from this chaos? 
 
In bombed-out Berlin, Ruth Andreas-Friedrich, journalist and member of the Nazi resistance, warms herself by a makeshift stove and records in her diary how a frenzy of expectation and industriousness grips the city. The Americans send Hans Habe, an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist and US army soldier, to the frontline of psychological warfare - tasked with establishing a newspaper empire capable of remoulding the minds of the Germans. The philosopher Hannah Arendt returns to the country she fled to find a population gripped by a manic loquaciousness, but faces a deafening wall of silence at the mention of the Holocaust. 
 
Aftermath is a nuanced panorama of a nation undergoing monumental change. 1945 to 1955 was a raw, wild decade poised between two eras that proved decisive for Germany's future - and one starkly different to how most of us imagine it today. Featuring black and white photographs and posters from post-war Germany - some beautiful, some revelatory, some shocking - Aftermath evokes an immersive portrait of a society corrupted, demoralised and freed - all at the same time.

Aftermath

Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich

Jacob Rees-Mogg

They built a nation. Now it’s our turn. 
 
Many associate the Victorian era with austere social attitudes and filthy factories. But in this bold and provocative book, Jacob Rees-Mogg -- leading Tory MP and prominent Brexit advocate -- takes up the story of twelve landmark figures to paint a very different picture of the age: one of bright ambition, bold self-belief and determined industriousness. 
 
Whether through Peel’s commitment to building free trade, Palmerston’s deft diplomacy in international affairs, or Pugin’s uplifting architectural feats, the Victorians transformed the nation and established Britain as a preeminent global force. 
 
Now 200 years since the birth of Queen Victoria, it is essential that we remember the spirit, drive and values of the Victorians who forged modern Britain, as we consider our future as a nation.

The Victorians

Twelve Titans who Forged Britain

Michael Jones

Agincourt was an astonishing clash of arms, a pivotal moment in the Hundred Years War and the history of warfare in general. 
 
King Henry V’s exhausted troops were preparing for certain defeat as they faced a far larger French army. What was to take place in the following 24 hours, it seemed only the miraculous intervention of God could explain. 
 
Interlacing eyewitness accounts, background chronicle and documentary sources with a new interpretation of the battle’s onset, acclaimed military historian Michael Jones takes the reader into the heart of this extraordinary feat of arms.

24 Hours at Agincourt

Churchill’s Pirates was the naval force whose “toils and tireless courage” - in the words of Churchill himself -helped the Allies defeat Hitler’s mighty war machine. At its heart was the Royal Naval Patrol Service (RNPS), a “navy within a navy” that was bought together to fight the Nazis and their fellow Axis nations across the world. 
 
The 70,000 men and women are largely forgotten today, but they played a vital role in winning World War II. Manning 6,000 ships, at least 3,218 men officially lost their lives, and more of their vessels were attacked and sunk by the enemy than any other branch of the Royal Navy. 
 
Told through fascinating first-hand accounts with surviving veterans, exclusive interviews, original papers and new archive material this will be the defining story of the overlooked unit who worked night and day to keep Britain safe in her darkest hour.

Churchill’s Pirates

The Seafaring Heroes Who Helped Win WWII

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.

A Dance to the Music of Time

A Fairy Tale Revolution

A Frank Grasby Mystery

A Guide For the Curious

A Horatio Hornblower Tale of the Sea

A Jo Birmingham Thriller

A Jon Roscoe Thriller

A Ladybird Book

A Ladybird Magic Windows Book

A Look Back at

A Luke Carlton Thriller

A Max Mingus Thriller

A Michael Bennett Thriller

A Midge McGowan Mystery

A Mitchum Thriller

A Moneybunny Book

A Murder Most Unladylike Collection

A Murder Most Unladylike Mini Mystery

A Murder Most Unladylike Mystery

A Nigel Strangeways Mystery

biblio.categories.code

biblio.publicationStatus

biblio.brand

biblio.workEditions.format

biblio.ageRange

biblio.series.seriesName

biblio.imprint.description

biblio.type

About us

About Us (Header 4)

Best-Jane-Austen-quotes_Online-Desktop_Penguin

James-Baldwin

Marian-Keyes

haruki-murakami-320×320-1

Richard-Osman

Malorie Blackman

Lisa-Jewell

Charlie-Mackesy

Authors (Header 3)

Children&#039;s

Company

Discover

Fiction

Non-fiction

Penguin Classics

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

Work with us

Search Results

Doctor Who Circle of Memory

Doctor Who Target Jan 1

The Count of Monte Cristo

White Nights

Extracts

Extract: Three Summers by Karen Swan

Exclusive Extract from Berwick by LJ Ross

Crafts &amp; activities

Celebrate your birthday with Ms Rachel

Reading lists

New books to read from Vintage this week

Where to start reading Virginia Woolf

Banner featuring the best books coming out in 2026

Features

The must-read books of 2026

The best first lines from Vintage classics

Where to start reading Clarice Lispector

2026 Vintage debut authors you’ll want on your reading list immediately

Where to start reading Marian Keyes' books

Competitions

Win a dinner and two-night stay in Brighton to celebrate the release of You &amp; Me and You &amp; Me and You &amp; Me by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees

Uncategorized

Win a set of new birthday poems by Jessica Urlichs!

Win one of three Falcon bake sets when you pre-order The Greatest Traybake Cookbook Ever by John Gregory Smith

Sophie Kinsella in 2015. Photo by John Swannell.

News

Madeleine Wickham (Sophie Kinsella), 1969-2025

What were the best books of 2025?

Extract: Fury Bound by Sable Sorensen

What makes a setting feel so vivid it becomes a character?

Best audiobook picks from Vintage for effortless reading anywhere 

A Vintage book for every mood in 2026

2026 classic books from Vintage you don’t want to miss 

Download the Rick vs. Myth Printable Paddle

stemming

Filters

Category

Publication Date

Format

Imprint

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter