RALEIGH TREVELYAN

Epic and engrossing, this extravagant true story covers 200 years in the life of an English family dynasty in Sicily. Benjamin Ingham, possibly the greatest tycoon England has ever known, was attracted to Sicily from his humble beginnings in Yorkshire by the burgeoning trade in marsala wine. This is the story of the English Croesus, who made the money, and his beneficiaries, the Whitaker family, who spent it - intertwined with two hundred years of enthralling Sicilian history.Most entertaining and readable. Anthony Powell, TelegraphDeeply researched and wholly fascinating. Washington PostAn original and entertaining contribution to Anglo-Italian history. Times

Based on unrestricted access to private papers, Grand Dukes and Diamonds charts the history of one of the most influential and extraordinary families of our time: the Wernhers of Luton Hoo. The familys fortune was made by Sir Julius Wernher, financier, mining magnate, and one of the creators of modern South Africa. Luton Hoo, a country house in Bedfordshire, became the site of Wernhers magnificent collection and was duly inherited by Sir Harold Wernher and his wife Lady Zia, daughter of Grand Duke Michael of Russia and a direct descendant of Pushkin. At Luton Hoo the couple displayed her priceless collection of Faberge, and together they ran a racing stud at Newmarket. Three of their racehorses, Brown Jack, Meld and Charlottown, became legends in their time. Sir Harold also played a crucial role at D-Day, the story of which has its definitive telling within Raleigh Trevelyans fascinating narrative.

Tennyson and Holman Hunt, Carlyles, Rossettis and any number of celebrated Trevelyans people these pages; and Mr Trevelyans handling of their comings and goings is masterly. Hilary SpurlingPauline Trevelyan, friend and patroness of so many in the Pre-Raphaelite circle, has long been an intriguing figure to scholars of that period. The daughter of a poor parson, she was married to Sir Walter Calverley Trevelyan, a landowner-cum-scientist twenty years her senior and her opposite in character. Herself an artist, writer and critic, she spotted Swinburnes talents when he was still a schoolboy, and commissioned important works from Rossetti, Woolner and others. From her immense correspondence we learn much about John Ruskin.A Pre-Raphaelite Circle reproduces a late-unearthed letter from Ruskin that is revelatory in respect of his marriage. For this and many other reasons it is a crucial work of reference for students of Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelites.