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Steven Veerapen

AoH Book Club: Steven Veerapen on The Wisest Fool: The Lavish Life of James VI and I

AoH Book Club: Steven Veerapen on The Wisest Fool: The Lavish Life of James VI and I

In conversation with the Editor, the historian reflects on his mission to rescue England’s first Stuart king from centuries of caricature and revealing a politically astute monarch whose skills lay in image-making and peaceful governance.
Steven Veerapen

Hello Steven – thanks for talking to us a few years on from the publication of The Wisest Fool: The Lavish Life of James VI and I, our Book Club pick for June. In the book, you set out to strip away the myths around the first Stuart King of England – what was the...

Shadow of a Queen, by Peter Tonkin

Shadow of a Queen, by Peter Tonkin

Robert Poley returns amid the intrigue surrounding Mary, Queen of Scots’s captivity in another of Peter Tonkin's depiction of plots and political tension in Elizabethan England.
Steven Veerapen

Peter Tonkin continues his deep dive into the sometimes grim and sometimes fabulously opulent world of sixteenth-century Europe as he returns to spymaster Robert Poley’s adventures. In this novel, spanning Paris, London, Eyemouth, Sheffield, and more, he brings to...

Boleyn Traitor, by Philippa Gregory

Boleyn Traitor, by Philippa Gregory

A gripping Tudor court drama that imaginatively fills the gaps of history, re-casting Jane Boleyn as a sharp-eyed, tragic survivor in Henry VIII’s lethal court.
Steven Veerapen

The great boon of historical fiction is its ability to explore the historical record’s blank spaces: those gaps in our knowledge where sources are silent or non-existent. It might be that we know what happened – we know outcomes – but emotions, motivations and...

Prince Rupert of the Rhine: King Charles I’s Cavalier Commander, by Mark Turnbull

Prince Rupert of the Rhine: King Charles I’s Cavalier Commander, by Mark Turnbull

A new biography uncovers just how much of a mark the 17th-century prince left on Stuart Britain.
Steven Veerapen

Prince Rupert of the Rhine: King Charles I’s Cavalier Commander, by Mark Turnbull Following his extraordinary study of Charles I’s private life, Mark Turnbull now turns his attention to another major player in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, Prince Rupert of the...

Shadow of Poison, by Peter Tonkin

Shadow of Poison, by Peter Tonkin

Peter Tonkin once again demonstrates why he stands head and shoulders above the crowd with a novel to be enjoyed by those who know the era well as well as newcomers.
Steven Veerapen

The world of Elizabethan spiery is a crowded one – but, in Shadow of Poison, Peter Tonkin once again demonstrates why he stands head and shoulders above the crowd. Given his history of writing thrillers and Elizabethan fiction, Tonkin is a master of genre and era. His...

James I: The Wisest Fool

James I: The Wisest Fool

The nickname for James VI of Scotland & I of England was a harsh one.
Steven Veerapen

James I: The Wisest Fool What makes a good king? What, for that matter, makes a good leader? Nowadays, we might identify qualities such as charisma, presence, and – one would hope – intelligence in decision-making and genuine care for the wellbeing of the people...

The Pirate Menace, by Angus Konstam

The Pirate Menace, by Angus Konstam

Good, bloody, myth-busting history packed with colourful personalities.
Steven Veerapen

Few other outlaw groups in history have left such an enduring legacy as the seafaring pirates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In The Pirate Menace, Angus Konstam explores how, when, why, and where the world’s most infamous (and many lesser known) pirates...