The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
In his latest biography on royalty, Matthew Dennison has written an empathetic, and balanced, life story of our Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth. His book is not just another narrative of her life; rather, an informed analysis of her personality, the pressures and...
Desperate Valour is the sequel to Timothy Ashby’s 5* bestseller Ranger, though it works perfectly well as a ‘stand alone’. It follows the adventure of Major Alexander Charteris (known as ‘Chart’), a mixed-race, English-educated son of an aristocrat and a West Indian...
Crécy: Finest Hours is a highly engaging exploration of the background of the Hundred Years’ War, the Battle of Crécy, and its aftermath. Gordon Corrigan presents Crécy as a key turning point in English military history, representative of the shifts in English society...
Shadow of Treason, the latest addition to Peter Tonkin’s The Queen’s Intelligencer series, offers a thrilling insight into the Protestant and Catholic divide during the reign of James I. A discord so deep that a fervent group of Catholics would assemble and attempt to...
The wonderful cover of Steven Veerapen’s Of Blood Descended invites the reader to enter a rich world of murder and mystery in 16th century England. The contents within do not disappoint. Of Blood Descended carries Veerapen’s hallmark of exemplary historical research...
The Children Left Behind is the fourth – and penultimate – instalment in her Shilling Grange Children’s Home series, which centres on the eponymous Suffolk orphanage in the aftermath of World War Two. Like the previous books in the series, The Children Left...
Stephen P. Kershaw’s new book has been published at the right time, what with an autocratic ruler recently invading a European democracy with overwhelming odds. There are always problems with direct comparisons, but one can’t help thinking of Ukraine when reading...
Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate - the British nations’ only foray into republicanism – receives too little popular attention. It is often referred to obliquely as the Interregnum: a failed experiment and an interruption to the otherwise smooth course of monarchical...
When visiting the Royal Tombs of the Argead dynasty at Aigai, Vergina in northern Greece, one descends a slight declining ramp, in bright sunlight with multi-coloured oleander on either side, towards a doorway at the end that is cloaked in darkness. On entering the...
Richard Foreman’s new short story collection, Never Surrender, presents an exciting set of tales that are diverse in their historical settings, yet united in the strength of their characters and wit of the prose. While some readers may be familiar with the characters...
