The No. 1 Sunday Times Bestseller‘Fascinating . . . The book everyone is talking about’ – Daily Mail By acclaimed royal biographer and author of Queen of Our Times, Robert Hardman, Charles III is a brilliant account of a tumultuous period in British history, full of intriguing insider detail and the real stories behind the sadness, the dazzling pomp, the challenges and the triumphs as Charles III sets out to make his mark.How would – or could – he fill the shoes of the record-breaking Elizabeth II? With fresh debates about the monarchy, political upheavals and a steady flow of damning headlines unleashed by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Charles could not afford to put a foot wrong. Hardman draws on unrivalled access to the Royal Family, friends of the King and Queen, key officials and courtiers, plus unpublished royal papers, to chart the transition from those emotionally charged days following the death of the late Queen all through that make or break first year on the throne.This book also reveals how Charles III is determined to move ahead at speed, the vital role played by Queen Camilla, the King’s relationships with his sons and the rest of his family, his plans for reforming the monarchy and how he is taking his place on the world stage.Charles III is a fascinating portrait of a hard-working, modern monarch, determined to remain true to himself and to his Queen, to make a difference, to weather the storms – and, what’s more, to enjoy it.'Hardman is the unsurpassed grand master when it comes to the inside story of the modern monarchy. Full of surprises and glorious detail' – Andrew Roberts, author of George III: The Life and Reign of Britain's Most Misunderstood Monarch'A superb, fascinating account of the new King, his court and the first year of his reign. Elegantly written by the most authoritative of royal historians writing today, it is deeply researched, impeccably sourced and filled with scoops and new details. This is the definitive book’ – Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs Read more

THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘As gripping as any thriller. History doesn't get any better than this’ BILL BRYSON’A brilliant read … Game of Thrones but in the real world’ ANTHONY HOROWITZPICKED AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 BY THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, THE GUARDIAN, THE DAILY MAIL AND THE DAILY EXPRESS.The sinking of the White Ship in 1120 is one of the greatest disasters England has ever suffered. In one catastrophic night, the king’s heir and the flower of Anglo-Norman society were drowned and the future of the crown was thrown violently off course.In a riveting narrative, Charles Spencer follows the story from the Norman Conquest through to the decades that would become known as the Anarchy: a civil war of untold violence that saw families turn in on each other with English and Norman barons, rebellious Welsh princes and the Scottish king all playing a part in a desperate game of thrones. All because of the loss of one vessel – the White Ship – the medieval Titanic.‘Highly enjoyable’ Simon Heffer‘Brilliant’ Dan Jones‘Fascinating’ Tom BowerThe #2 Sunday Times bestseller on Sunday 18 June 2021Charles Spencer's book 'A Very Private School' was a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2024-03-18. Read more

EMPIREWORLD IS AVAILABLE TO ORDER NOW WINNER OF THE 2022 BRITISH BOOK AWARD FOR NARRATIVE NONFICTION***THE BOOK THAT INSPIRED THE CHANNEL 4 DOCUMENTARY 'EMPIRE STATE OF MIND'***THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'The real remedy is education of the kind that Sanghera has embraced - accepting, not ignoring, the past' Gerard deGroot, The Times_____________________________________________________EMPIRE explains why there are millions of Britons living worldwide.EMPIRE explains Brexit and the feeling that we are exceptional. EMPIRE explains our distrust of cleverness. EMPIRE explains Britain's particular brand of racism. Strangely hidden from view, the British Empire remains a subject of both shame and glorification. In his bestselling book, Sathnam Sanghera shows how our imperial past is everywhere: from how we live and think to the foundation of the NHS and even our response to the COVID-19 crisis. At a time of great division, when we are arguing about what it means to be British, Empireland is a groundbreaking revelation - a much-needed and enlightening portrait of contemporary British society, shining a light on everything that usually gets left unsaid. _______________________________________________________'Empireland takes a perfectly-judged approach to its contentious but necessary subject' Jonathan Coe'I only wish this book has been around when I was at school' Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London'This remarkable book shines the brightest of lights into some of the darkest and most misunderstood corners of our shared history' James O'Brien Read more

See London in a completely new light in this guide to the city's hidden secrets, untold stories and special places laden with history which you can discover for yourself! London is famous for its museums, each one full of treasures and relics – but the biggest museum in the capital is the city itself. From the stories behind unusual street names, to the trees in our parks; railings made from recycled WWII stretchers, to shrapnel damage on walls; the hidden symbols on post boxes, to prehistoric tree trunks – there is a rich history hidden in the oft-overlooked details of the city's streets, gardens, parks and buildings. This richly detailed and beautifully illustrated book provides a miscellany of historic features and curiosities to spot as you wander around the capital. Whether you’ve always wondered why there are cattle troughs on your route to work, why bollards often look like upside down cannons or wanted to know what a Victorian stink pipe is – this book will provide the tools to decipher London’s secret code, and introduce you to a treasure trove of hidden spots to explore. The book comes complete with maps so you can spot these details yourself on walks through the capital. So, pop on a sturdy pair of shoes and get ready to turn the city into the museum you never knew you had. Read more

The searing inside story of our broken politics from the former Cabinet minister and co-host of The Rest Is Politics. ‘The most exceptional political memoir I’ve ever read’ ALAN JOHNSON ‘An instant classic’MARINA HYDE ‘At last a politician who can write’SEBASTIAN FAULKS Over the course of a decade, Rory Stewart went from being a political outsider to standing for prime minister – before being sacked from a Conservative Party that he had come to barely recognise. Uncompromising, honest and darkly humorous, this is his story of the challenges, absurdities and realities of political life. Instantly praised as a new classic, it is an astonishing portrait of our turbulent times. ‘Genuinely eye-opening…always riveting, often horrifying’ iNEWS ‘Beautifully written’ GUARDIAN ‘Hugely entertaining’ EVENING STANDARD BRITISH BOOK AWARDS NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 * A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE FT, GUARDIAN, SUNDAY TIMES, TELEGRAPH, TIMES, OBSERVER, i NEWSPAPER, NEW STATESMAN, PROSPECT, CHURCH TIMES AND SCOTSMAN * Politics on the Edge was a #1 Sunday Times bestseller from 09.09.23–16.09.23, 09.12.23–16.12.23, 30.12.23–06.01.24 and 11.06.24—25.06.24. Read more

Discover who we are and how we got here in comedian David Mitchell's UNRULY: A History of England's Kings and Queens - a thoughtful, funny exploration of the entitled and enthroned.'JUST FANTASTIC. DELIGHTFULLY CONTRARY AND HILARIOUSLY CANTANKEROUS. VERY, VERY FUNNY' JESSE ARMSTRONG, CREATOR OF SUCCESSION AND PEEP SHOW'CLEVER, AMUSING, GLORIOUSLY BIZARRE AND RAZOR SHARP. MITCHELL - A FUNNY MAN AND A SKILLED HISTORIAN - TELLS STORIES THAT ARE INTERESTING AND FUN. HERE IS HORRIBLE HISTORIES FOR GROWNUPS' GERARD DEGROOT, THE TIMES'CLEVER, FUNNY, MAKES YOU THINK QUITE DIFFERENTLY ABOUT HISTORY' DAN SNOW, HISTORIAN AND BROADCASTER--------Think you know your kings and queens? Think again.In UNRULY, David Mitchell explores how England's monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects' destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky sods who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear today in their portraits.Taking us right back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn't exist), David tells the founding story of post-Roman England right up to the reign of Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies). It's a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and at least one total Cnut, as the population evolved from having their crops nicked by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed king.How this happened, who it happened to and why it matters in modern Britain are all questions David answers with brilliance, wit and the full erudition of a man who once studied history - and won't let it off the hook for the mess it's made.A funny book about a serious subject, UNRULY is for anyone who has ever wondered how we got here - and who is to blame.--------'Mitchell clearly knows his history, with a book that owes as much to Monty Python as it does to Simon Schama' ANDREW MARR, BROADCASTER'I don’t think anyone other than David Mitchell could have written this book. It’s clever, funny and makes you think quite differently about history we thought we knew' DAN SNOW, HISTORIAN AND BROADCASTER'Who knew a history of England's rulers could be this hilarious? A brilliantly entertaining romp through monarchs' i'By turns fascinating and funny - there is a jewel of an insight or a refreshing blast of clarifying wit on every page. David brings a delightfully contrary and hilariously cantankerous eye to the history of the English Monarchy. Informative, illuminating and very very funny' JESSE ARMSTRONG, CREATOR OF SUCCESSION AND PEEP SHOW'I can’t recommend this book enough. Very funny and interesting, it is above all a proper work of history' CHARLIE HIGSON*The Times Number One Bestseller October 2023* Read more

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘A lasting work of social history’ THE TIMES‘A genuinely new history of our nation’ DAN JONES‘This celebration of women is a triumph of popular history’ SPECTATOR'Philippa Gregory uses all her bestseller skills to weave a narrative with pace' ANTONIA FRASERFROM THE MULTI-MILLION BESTSELLING HISTORICAL NOVELIST COMES THE CULMINATION OF HER LIFE’S WORKDid you know that there are more penises than women in the Bayeux Tapestry?That the Peasant’s Revolt was started and propelled by women, protesting a tax on women?Or that celebrated naturalist Charles Darwin believed not just that women were naturally inferior to men but that they’d evolve to become ever more inferior?These are just a few of the startling findings you will learn from reading Philippa Gregory’s Normal Women. In this ambitious and ground-breaking book, she tells the story of our nation over 900 years, but for the very first time women – some fifty per cent of the population – are no longer invisible in this history of England, but are at its beating heart.Using research skills honed in her work as one of our foremost historical novelists, Gregory trawled through court records to find highway women, beggars and shepherdesses, through newspapers and diaries to find murderers and brides, housewives and pirates, female husbands and hermits. The ‘normal women’ you will meet in her pages went to war, ploughed the fields, campaigned, wrote, and loved. They rode in jousts, flew Spitfires, issued their own currency and built ships, corn mills and houses as part of their everyday lives They committed crimes, or treason, worshipped many gods, cooked and nursed, invented things and rioted. A lot. They built our society to be as diverse and varied as the women themselves. They are there in the archives – if you look – and they made our history.‘You’ll lose count of the number of things you learn about women and their skewed place in history … the book reframes the past … an essential read’ INDEPENDENT, FIVE-STAR REVIEWPhilippa Gregory's book 'Normal Women' was a No.2 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2024-09-30. Read more

THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLERCHOSEN BY WATERSTONES AS ONE OF THEIR BEST HISTORY BOOKS OF 2024 'Compulsive . . . A wonderful display of how modern archaeology can bring hidden histories to life' Daily Telegraph  'Gripping . . . I found it hard to put down' Evening Standard ‘Gripping… Fascinating… While bodily remains tell excellent tales, they require an equally vivid historical context if they are to come fully alive’ Guardian 'Another really good book from archaeologist Alice Roberts . . . Helps you understand the facts on a technical level, but also makes you feel them in your bones' New Scientist The new book by Sunday Times bestselling author of Ancestors and Buried - the final instalment in Professor Alice Roberts' acclaimed trilogy.We can unlock secrets from bones preserved for centuries in tombs, graves and crypts. The history of the Middle Ages is typically the story of the rich and powerful, there’s barely a written note for most people’s lives. Archaeology represents another way of interrogating our history. By using cutting-edge science to examine human remains and burials, it is possible to unearth details about how individuals lived and died that give us a new understanding of the past – one that is more intimate and inclusive than ever before.   The seven stories in Crypt are not comforting tales. We meet the patients at one of the earliest hospitals in England and the victims of the St Brice’s Day Massacre. We see a society struggling to make sense of disease, disability and death, as incurable epidemics sweep through medieval Europe. We learn of a protracted battle between Church and State that led to the murder of Thomas Becket and the destruction of the most famous tomb in England. And we come face to face with the archers who went down with Henry VIII’s favourite ship, the Mary Rose.  Beautifully written and expertly researched by Professor Alice Roberts, Crypt is packed with thrilling discoveries that will make you see the history of Britain afresh. Read more

The classic evocative tale of an idyllic childhood in the English countryside Cider with Rosie is a wonderfully vivid memoir of childhood in a remote Cotswold village, a village before electricity or cars, a timeless place on the verge of change. Growing up amongst the fields and woods and characters of the place, Laurie Lee depicts a world that is both immediate and real and belongs to a now-distant past. ‘Remains as fresh and full of joy and gratitude for youth and its sensations as when it first appeared. It sings in the memory’ Sunday Times Read more

“A superb and well written book, highly recommended as a true account of one man’s war from Pegasus Bridge to the Baltic during WWII.” —The ArmourerAlthough strictly forbidden to keep diaries, Denis Edwards managed to record his experiences throughout nearly all his time in Europe in 1944–45. He brilliantly conveys what it was like to be facing death, day after day, night after night, with never a bed to sleep in nor a hot meal to go home to. This is warfare in the raw—brutal, yet humorous, immensely tragic, but sadly, all true.“[An] excellent book . . . chronicles his journey with the 2nd Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry during pre-invasion training, then on to Normandy, the Ardennes, the Rhine Crossing and the advance to the Baltic Sea in 1945.” —The Pegasus Archive“From my perspective, if you have any interest in the 2nd Bn. Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, and their participation in the action at Pegasus Bridge, the battle for Normandy and the Rhine Crossings, you can do no better than to refer to The Devil’s Own Luck.” —Recollections of WWII“Edwards’ thorough descriptions of his daily activities in Normandy bring his narrative to life, from eating rations to digging trenches to the strain of being under continuous bombardment . . . The Devil’s Own Luck is fast-paced, well-written, and holds the reader’s attention.” —Colour Sergeant Tombstone’s History Pages Read more

Impossible Monsters is the captivating story of the discovery of the dinosaurs and how it upended our understanding of the origins of the world.‘An astonishing book about an extraordinary subject' PETER FRANKOPAN'As thrilling as it is sweeping' TOM HOLLAND'This book dazzles in its originality . . . a triumph’ SATHNAM SANGHERAIn 1811, a twelve-year-old girl uncovered some strange-looking bones in Britain’s southern shoreline. They belonged to no known creature and were buried beneath a hundred feet of rock. Over the next two decades, as several more of these ‘impossible monsters’ emerged from the soil, the leading scientists of the day were forced to confront a profoundly disturbing possibility: the Bible, as a historical account of the Earth's origins, was wildly wrong.This is the dramatic story of the crisis that engulfed science and religion when we discovered the dinosaurs. It takes us into the lives and minds of the extraordinary men and women who made these heretical discoveries, those who resisted them, as well as the pioneering thinkers, Darwin most famous among them, who took great risks to construct a new account of the earth’s and mankind’s origins.Impossible Monsters is the riveting story of a group of people who not only thought impossible things but showed them to be true. In the process they overturned the literal reading of the Bible, liberated science from the authority of religion and ushered in the secular age.‘Truly marvellous ... an intellectual thriller’ RICHARD HOLMES‘A stunning work ... of surprises and revelations’ STEVE BRUSATTE*An Economist, Times Literary Supplement, Bloomberg and Waterstones Book of the Year 2024* Read more

This revelatory memoir from Britain's former Prime Minister offers vital insights into our extraordinary times.Former Prime Minister and the country's longest-serving Chancellor, Gordon Brown has been a guiding force for Britain and the world over three decades. This is his candid, poignant and deeply relevant story.In describing his upbringing in Scotland as the son of a minister, the near loss of his eyesight as a student and the death of his daughter within days of her birth, he shares the passionately-held principles that have shaped and driven him, reminding us that politics can and should be a calling to serve. Reflecting on the personal and ideological tensions within Labour and its successes and failures in power, he describes how to meet the challenge of pursuing a radical agenda within a credible party of government.From the invasion of Iraq to the tragedy of Afghanistan, from the coalition negotiations of 2010 to the referendums on Scottish independence and Europe, Gordon Brown draws on his unique experiences to explain Britain's current fractured condition. By showing us what progressive politics has achieved in recent decades, he inspires us with a vision of what it might yet achieve.Riveting, expert and highly personal, this historic memoir is an invaluable insight into our times. Read more

THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA Times, Spectator and Waterstones Book of the Year'Shocking and moving' Guardian'Top marks for its searing frankness, framed in wistfully beautiful prose’ The TimesAt eight years of age, Charles Spencer was sent away to one of England's most England's most exclusive boarding schools. Here he reveals the strange secrets of the school, and the culture of cruelty and abuse he experienced in his five years there as pupil.Spencer reflects on the misery, hopelessness and abandonment he felt aged eight, viscerally describing the intense pain of homesickness and the vicious brutality of a boys' school in the 1970s. All these years later, Spencer's bafflement at the teachers' motivations to inflict such cruelty on young children in palpable. As is his fury that, even if somehow he had spoken up, he'd never have been believed.Charles Spencer's book 'A Very Private School' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 11-03-2024.Charles Spencer's book 'A Very Private School' was a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2024-03-18. Read more

Elizabeth the Queen begins as the young Elizabeth I ascends the throne in the wake of her sister Mary's disastrous reign - both a woman and a queen, Elizabeth's story is an extraordinary phenomenon in a patriarchal age.From Elizabeth's intriguing, long-standing affair with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to her dealings - sometimes comical, sometimes poignant - with her many suitors, her rivalry with Mary, Queen of Scots, and her bizarre relationship with the Earl of Essex, thirty years her junior, here, in rich, vivid and colourful detail, Alison Weir helps us comes as close as we shall ever get to knowing what Elizabeth I was like as a person.'Excellent...intricate and absorbing...An elegant, shrewd and wonderfully vivacious book.' The Times Read more

A NEW YORK TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, HISTORY TODAY AND BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR'Masterly... This book is dynamite' - ROBERT GILDEA, author of Empires of the Mind**Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize****Winner of the NYU/Axinn Foundation Prize**A searing, landmark study of the British Empire that lays bare its pervasive use of violence throughout the twentieth century.Drawing on more than a decade of research on four continents, Caroline Elkins reveals the dark heart of Britain's Empire: a racialised, systemised doctrine of unrelenting violence, which it used to secure and maintain its interests across the globe.When Britain could no longer maintain control over that violence, it simply retreated - and sought to destroy the evidence. Legacy of Violence is a monumental achievement that explodes long-held myths and deserves the attention of anyone who seeks to understand empire's role in shaping the world today.'Not so much a history book as a book of historical significance' BBC History Magazine'Riveting' New Statesman 'Crucial...as unflinching as it is gripping, as carefully researched as it is urgently necessary' Jill Lepore, author of These Truths Read more

THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA Times, Spectator and Waterstones Book of the Year'Shocking and moving' Guardian'Top marks for its searing frankness, framed in wistfully beautiful prose’ The TimesAt eight years of age, Charles Spencer was sent away to one of England's most England's most exclusive boarding schools. Here he reveals the strange secrets of the school, and the culture of cruelty and abuse he experienced in his five years there as pupil.Spencer reflects on the misery, hopelessness and abandonment he felt aged eight, viscerally describing the intense pain of homesickness and the vicious brutality of a boys' school in the 1970s. All these years later, Spencer's bafflement at the teachers' motivations to inflict such cruelty on young children in palpable. As is his fury that, even if somehow he had spoken up, he'd never have been believed.Charles Spencer's book 'A Very Private School' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 11-03-2024.Charles Spencer's book 'A Very Private School' was a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2024-03-18. Read more

'James Holland is the best of the new generation of WW2 historians.' Sebastian Faulks'Holland's skill lies in bringing these warriors to life with vivid prose.' The TimesShortlisted for the 2021 British Army Military Book of the Year_________________________________________________This is the story of the biggest seaborne landing in history.Codenamed Operation HUSKY, the assault on Sicily on 10 July 1943 remains the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted. That day, over 160,000 Allied troops were dropped from the sky or came ashore to begin the fight for Europe.The subsequent thirty-eight-day Battle for Sicily was one of the most dramatic of the entire war, involving daring raids by special forces, deals with the Mafia, attacks across mosquito-infested plains and perilous assaults up almost sheer faces of rock and scree.Made worse by virulent disease and extreme heat, the Allies also had to fight their way across an island of unforgiving landscape and limited infrastructure against a German foe who would not give up.Victory would signal the beginning of the end of the War in the West. From here on, the noose began to tighten around the neck of Nazi Germany. The coalition between the United States and Britain finally came of age. And it was a crucial dry run for Operation OVERLORD, the invasion of Normandy on D-Day a year later. Read more

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘A terrific book … It really is one of the most enjoyable histories I’ve read in many a year’ JAMES HOLLAND‘Riveting … A brilliant account’ DAILY MAILTHE FIRST AUTHORISED HISTORY OF THE SBS.Britain’s SBS – or Special Boat Service – was the world’s first maritime special operations unit. Founded in the dark days of 1940, it started as a small and inexperienced outfit that leaned heavily on volunteers’ raw courage and boyish enthusiasm. It went on to change the course of the Second World War – and has served as a model for special forces ever since.The fledgling unit’s first mission was a daring beach reconnaissance of Rhodes in the spring of 1941. Over the next four years, the SBS and its affiliates would carry out many more spectacular operations in the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the Channel and the Far East. These missions – including Operation Frankton, the daredevil attempt by the ‘Cockleshell Heroes’ to paddle up the Garonne river and sink Axis ships in Bordeaux harbour – were some of the most audacious and legendary of the war.Paddling flimsy canoes, and armed only with knives, pistols and a few sub-machine guns, this handful of brave and determined men operated deep behind enemy lines in the full knowledge that if caught they might be executed. Many were.Yet their many improbable achievements – destroying enemy ships and infrastructure, landing secret agents, tying up enemy forces, spreading fear and uncertainty, and, most importantly, preparing the ground for D-Day – helped to make an Allied victory possible.Written with the full cooperation of the modern SBS – the first time this ultra-secretive unit has given its seal of approval to any book – and exclusive access to its archives, SBS: Silent Warriors allows Britain’s original special forces to emerge from the shadows and take their proper and deserved place in our island story.Saul David's book 'Sky Warriors' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2024-04-29. Read more

Read the thrilling, tempestuous story of the 'first' Queen of England. Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror, was the first woman to be crowned Queen of England and formally recognised as such by her subjects. Beyond this, however, little is known of her. No contemporary images of her remain, and the chroniclers of her age left us only the faintest clues as to her life. Who was this spectral queen? In this first major biography, Tracy Borman sifts through the evidence to uncover an extraordinary story. Matilda was loving and pious, possessed strength, ambition and intelligence, and was fiercely independent. All of these attributes gave her unparalleled influence over William. Although Matilda would provide an inspiring template for future indomitable queens, these qualities also led to treachery, revolt and the fracturing of a dynasty. Matilda: Wife of the Conqueror, First Queen of England takes us from the courts of Flanders to the opulence of royal life in England. Alive with intrigue, rumour and betrayal, it illuminates for the first time the life of an exceptional, brave and complex queen pivotal to the history of England. Read more