A.N. WILSON

Clever, moving, imaginative and funny, this is both a wonderful adventure story, and a sly look at humans through the eyes of a cat.A cat of literary distinction - Naomi Lewis, ObserverA.N. Wilson has written a classic... His episodic, quasi-picaresque story is deeply read-on, funny, moving and exciting (Literary Review). Pufftail the tabby cat was a prince among strays. He was charming, adventurous, a gentleman of the road - not for him a life purring around the shins of a Two Footer. Now that hes old and grey-whiskered, he can laze in the sun, telling the story of his life to his admiring young grandkitten.Not all his memories are happy though. Hes been thrown out of a moving car, been experimented on in a science lab and joined the violent Cat Brotherhood. Some Two Footers have been kind to him, but hed rather be free. And he cant understand humans at all. Why do they live in giant cages? Why do they put smoking chimneys in their mouths? And why do they want their own animals?

In this original and vibrant examination of the life and times of Queen Elizabeth II, biographer and novelist A.N. Wilson paints a vivid portrait of Lilibet the woman, and of her reign. He also considers the history of the monarchy, drawing a line that stretches from Queen Victoria to the bloody history of Europe in the twentieth century, examining how and why the Royal Family has survived. In part historical overview, but with a keen eye to the future, Wilson writes with his signature warmth, intelligence and humour, celebrating the life of the Queen and her role as figurehead of Britain and the Commonwealth.

"Its unlikely that a more intelligent, amusing and yet disturbing novel will appear this autumn."ScotsmanOn The Island, just as on many other islands, marriages are unhappy, people fall in love and the seasons pass. The town of Aberdeen is no different, until the earthquakes. These seismic ripples tear down houses, forge bonds, and shake the foundations of humanity and religion. And in the midst of it all, Nellie and Ingrid fall in love.In Aftershocks A. N. Wilson offers a portrait of nature, death and morality. Moved by the real losses of the Christchurch earthquake, this is an extraordinary novel about a community profoundly linked to the land it lives on."Witty, erudite and artful."SpectatorCountry & Townhouses the best books for Christmas, 2018

Brought to life by celebrated author and animal lover A. N. Wilson, and charmingly illustrated, Hazel will capture the hearts of guinea-pig lovers everywhere.Creep under the kitchen table and join Hazel the greedy guinea pig as she gets into some sticky situations...Hazel the guinea pig just wants to explore. But shes also very fond of food... When her seven-year-old owner puts her down into the kitchen, she seizes her chance to escape - but her bulging tummy gets her stuck in a wellington boot!Thats just the beginning of Hazels adventures. Shes about to meet Tobacco, a handsome boy guinea pig, and together they must fight off a hutch invasion from a curious furball called Fudge. Can Hazel and Tobacco warn the humans in time - using just the power of squealing?

A Book of the Year in The Times & Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Spectator, Irish Times and TLS. SuperbDaily Mail, Book of the WeekBrilliantThe Times, Book of the Week[A] vivid, detailed accountGuardian, Book of the WeekHugely enjoyableDaily TelegraphFascinatingSpectatorCharles Dickens was a superb public performer, a great orator and one of the most famous of the Eminent Victorians. Slight of build, with a frenzied, hyper-energetic personality, Dickens looked much older than his fifty-eight years when he died. Although he specified an unpretentious funeral, it was inevitable that crowds flocked to his open grave in Westminster Abbey. Experiencing the worst and best of life during the Victorian Age, Dickens was not merely the conduit through whom some of the most beloved characters in literature came into the world. He was one of them.Filled with twists, pathos and unusual characters, The Mystery of Charles Dickens looks back from the legendary writers death to recall the key events in his life. In doing so, A. N. Wilson seeks to understand Dickenss creative genius and enduring popularity. Following him from cradle to grave, it becomes clear that Dickenss fiction drew from his own experiences - a fact he acknowledged. Like Oliver Twist, Dickens suffered a wretched childhood, then grew up to become not only a respectable gentleman but an artist of prodigious popularity. Dickens knew firsthand the poverty and pain his characters endured, including the scandal of a failed marriage.Going beyond standard narrative biography, Wilson brilliantly revisits the wellspring of Dickenss vast and wild imagination, revealing why his novels have such instantaneous appeal and why they continue to resonate today. He also uncovers the double standards of both the man and his times.

Chosen as a Book of the Year in The Times and the Daily MailHighly entertainingSunday TimesEnthrallingDaily TelegraphFor more than six decades, Queen Victoria ruled a great Empire at the height of its power. Beside her for more than twenty of those years was the love of her life, her trusted husband and father of their nine children, Prince Albert. But while Victoria is seen as the embodiment of her time, it was Prince Albert, A. N. Wilson expertly argues, who was at the vanguard of Victorian Britains transformation as a vibrant and extraordinary centre of political, technological, scientific and intellectual advancement. Far more than just the product of his age, Albert was one of its influencers and architects. A composer, engineer, soldier, politician, linguist and bibliophile, Prince Albert, more than any other royal, was truly a genius. Albert lived only forty-two years. Yet in that time, he fathered the royal dynasties of Germany, Russia, Spain and Bulgaria. Through Victoria, Albert and her German advisers pioneered the idea of the modern constitutional monarchy. In this sweeping biography, Wilson demonstrates that there was hardly any aspect of British national life which Albert did not touch. Drawn from the Royal archives, including Prince Alberts voluminous correspondence, this brilliant and ambitious book offers fascinating never-before-known details about the man and his time. A superb match of biographer and subject, Prince Albert, at last, gives this important historical figure the reverence and recognition that is long overdue.

Written by acclaimed biographer A. N. Wilson, Hitler is a short, sharp, gripping account of one of the twentieth century's most notorious figures In this respect, the Fuhrer is presented as a man ahead of his time, who foreshadowed Hollywood and TV stars and post-war politicians. In a field dense with lengthy tomes, this brief, penetrating portrait provides a compelling introduction to a man whose evil continues to fascinate and appal.

A. N. Wilsons powerful new novel explores the life and times of one of the greatest British explorers, Captain Cook, and the golden age of Britains period of expansion and exploration.Wilsons protagonist, witness to Cooks brilliance and wisdom, is George Forster, who travelled with Cook as botanist on board the HMS Resolution, on Cooks second expedition to the southern hemisphere, and penned a famous account of the journey. Resolution moves back and forth across time, to depict Forsters time with Cook, and his extraordinary later life, which ended with his death in Paris, during the French Revolution.Wilson once again demonstrates his great powers as a master craftsman of the historical and the human in this richly evoked novel, which brings to life the real and the extraordinary, brilliantly drawing together a remarkable cast of characters in order to look at human endeavour, ingenuity and valour.

In The Book of the People A. N. Wilson explores how readers and thinkers have approached the Bible, and how it might be read today. Charting his own relationship with the Bible over a lifetime of writing, Wilson argues that it remains relevant even in a largely secular society, as a philosophical work, a work of literature and a cultural touchstone that the western world has answered to for nearly two thousand years. He challenges the way fundamentalists - whether believers or non-believers - have misused the Bible, either by neglecting and failing to recognize its cultural significance, or by using it as a weapon against those with whom they disagree. Erudite, witty and accessible, The Book of the People seeks to reclaim the Good Book as our seminal work of literature, and a book for the imagination.

A. N. Wilson's powerful new novel explores the life and times of one of the greatest British explorers, Captain Cook, and the golden age of Britain's period of expansion and exploration. Wilson's protagonist, witness to Cook's brilliance and wisdom, is George Forster, who travelled with Cook as botanist on board the HMS Resolution, on Cook's second expedition to the southern hemisphere, and penned a famous account of the journey.

Sneak behind the skirting board with Furball the trusting hamster, and run riot with the Mokes - a gang of cockney mice...Its a scary world out there, especially if youre a pet hamster who likes nothing better than snuggling into a cashmere sock with a pouch full of honey seeds. So when Furball escapes her cozy cage and goes gallivanting with a gang of cockney mice who call themselves the Mokes, it can only end in trouble. Suddenly this brave little hamster is dodging fearsome winged Fevvas in the garden, and smelly long-tailed Narks in the cellar. And shell have to be very careful not to be caught out by poisonous Floor Food, lethal Sticky Traps, or the dreaded Ole Snapper.Meanwhile the Humans, (or Ooms, if youre a Moke) are on the hunt for their beloved pet. And while theyre searching high and low for their beloved pet, theyre also dealing with a serious mouse problem...A.N. Wilsons childrens books have been hugely well received:delightful - Daily Mailclever, moving, imaginative - Daily TelegraphAn excellent book... for the whole family - Spectator

A. N. Wilsons Tolstoy is a highly intelligent and accessible biography of the most famous writer in the Russian canon.In this biography of Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, A.N. Wilson narrates the complex drama of the writers life: his childhood of aristocratic privilege but emotional deprivation, his discovery of his literary genius after aimless years of gambling and womanizing, and his increasingly disastrous marriage. Wilson sweeps away the long-held belief that Tolstoys works were the exact mirror of his life, and instead traces the roots of Tolstoys art to his relationship with God, with women, and with Russia. He also recreates the world that shaped the great novelists life and art - the turmoil of ideas and politics in 19th-century Russia and the literary renaissance that made Tolstoys work possible.Magisterial... Wilson has an advantage over a mere biographer, looking not to judge his subject but to fully understand the inspirations behind his great works - Daily Express

A. N. Wilson's powerful new novel explores the life and times of one of the greatest British explorers, Captain Cook, and the golden age of Britain's period of expansion and exploration.

LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION.In 1774, Josiah Wedgwood, master craftsman possessed with a burning scientific vision, embarks upon the thousand piece Frog Service for Catherine the Great. Josiahs nephew Tom journeys to America to buy clay from the Cherokee for this exquisite china. Tom is caught up in the American rebellion, and falls for a Cherokee woman who will come to play a crucial role in Josiahs late, great creation: the Portland Vase. As the family fortune is made, and Josiahs entrepreneurial brilliance creates an empire that will endure for generations, it is his daughter Sukey, future mother of Charles Darwin, who bears clear-eyed witness.A novel of epic scope, rich in warmth, intellect and humanity, The Potters Hand explores the lives and loves of one of Britains greatest families, whose travails are both ordinary - births, deaths, marriages, opium addiction, depression - and utterly extraordinary.

With a biographers eye for detail and a novelists comprehension of the creative process, A. N. Wilson paints a masterful portrait of Dante Alighieri and unlocks one of the seminal works of literature for a new generation of readers.In Dante in Love, A. N. Wilson presents a glittering study of an artist and his world, arguing that without an understanding of medieval Florence, it is impossible to comprehend the meaning of Dantes great poem. He explains how the Italian States were at that time locked into violent feuds, mirrored in the ferocious competition between the Holy Roman Empire and the papacy. He explores Dantes preoccupations with classical mythology, numerology and the great Christian philosophers which inform every line of the Comedy. Dante in Love also lays bare the enigma of the man who never wrote about the mother of his children, yet immortalized the mysterious Beatrice, whom he barely knew.

The structure of the book is chronological, with digressions. From Roman and then Norman London, we move on to Chaucer's London - the city of the Peasants Revolt, Dick Whittington and the great Livery Companies. In Tudor and Stuart London many believed the city was being wrecked by over-population, over-building and the greed of speculators. Eighteenth-century London witnessed the South Sea Bubble, gin, highwaymen and the Gordon riots; but also banking, hospitals, and the elegant design of everyday things. In the nineteenth century, expanding vigorously, the city resisted any overall make-over. With Queen Victoria came the Railway Age, which made and unmade the city. Chartism, anti-semitism, overcrowding and cholera. But engineering triumphs too. If the First World War was a nightmare happening elsewhere, the amazing six years of 1939-45 were the city's finest hour. Post-1945, property developers took over, with disastrous results. The author celebrates the cosmopolitan city that mobility and immigration have created, while deploring the moronization' of the city, exemplified by the Millennium Dome and Ken Livingstone's 2002 London Plan.