Novedades del último mes en libros de Biografías históricas universales

Guerreras olvidadas. Heroínas silenciadas. Durante siglos, la historia de la guerra ha sido contada de forma casi exclusiva en masculino. Pero desde los campos de batalla de la Antigüedad hasta las t

En esta historia de una revolución fallida, Luciano Canfora desmonta la imagen oficial de Catilina —esa que lo retrata como simple conspirador derrotado— y reconstruye, con agudeza y erudición, el pe

Una obra de no-ficció que revela un dels capítols més commovedors i desconeguts de la postguerra: la història de la maternitat d’Elna, un refugi al sud de França on van néixer més de 600 infants fill

Este libro presenta una nueva visión de la gran personalidad espiritual del Conde Alexandro de Cagliostro, sus actos milagrosos, sus curaciones, el inmenso legado espiritual que ha llegad hasta nuestros dias, en particular a traves su rito magico, esoterico y alquimico de la Alta Masoneria Egipcia.Pocos personajes encontrariamos en el seno de la historia y de la Tradicion que fueran tan injusta e ignominiosamente tratados, confundidos y ultrajados por escribas a sueldo de nefandos intereses oscurantistas como Cagliostro.Su hechos notables y su participacion activa en los grandes cambios de la sociedad de su tiempo !y del futuro¡ fueron como un relampago de luminosa esperanza que atraveso subitamente la opacidad de la noche europea, propios de un gran Adepto, quizas uno de los mas grandes que caminaron sobre este mundoA pesar de la equivoca e incluso calumniosa pluma de diversos autores, que aun hoy en dia continuan basando sus estudios sobre el Conde de Cagliostro en los infamantes libelos del Santo Oficio, que intentaron por todos los medios acallar para siempre la voz del amigo del Gran Copto, amalgamando su extraordinaria personalidad con la de un oscuro personaje, otros investigadores, mas proclives a realizar una indagacion fidedigna en su extraordinario legado, han sabido dirigir su mirada a las palabras del propio Cagliostro, quien profetizo que, con el paso del tiempo, se encontrarian en sus escritos las profundas verdades y enseñanzas que el mismo predicaba a traves del maravilloso ejemplo de una vida de servicio, abnegacion, sacrificio y amor a la Humanidad.

La música de John Adams fluye como un río que refleja y transforma la luz. A veces avanza con la serenidad de una corriente amplia; otras, irrumpe con la fuerza de un torrente inesperado. Entre el resplandor y la sombra, entre la transparencia y la densidad, Adams ha construido un lenguaje sonoro capaz de contar historias y, al mismo tiempo, de invitar a la contemplacion. Luz sobre el agua recorre su trayectoria desde los primeros pasos hasta las obras mas recientes, deteniendose en cada partitura como quien se asoma a un remanso para observar sus reflejos. Operas que dialogan con la historia "Nixon in China, Doctor Atomic, Girls of the Golden West, Antony and Cleopatra", piezas sinfonicas que expanden el espacio sonoro, y partituras que encuentran en lo intimo una fuerza tan poderosa como en lo monumental. A traves de un enfoque que combina analisis, contexto y narracion, este libro muestra como Adams ha sabido tender puentes entre tradicion y modernidad, entre lo politico y lo poetico. Sus obras, como la luz sobre el agua, cambian constantemente, pero conservan siempre una identidad inconfundible. Un viaje para escuchar con los ojos y mirar con los oidos, siguiendo el brillo movil de una de las voces mas singulares de la musica contemporanea.

The second volume in an acclaimed biography of Oliver Cromwell from the capture of Charles I to the expulsion of the Long Parliament In 1647 the Parliamentarians were divided They had won the first civil war and the king was in custody but disagreements over the way forward had led to a stalemate As the leader of one party Oliver Cromwell found himself again at the centre of events In the second volume of his pioneering biography Ronald Hutton traces Cromwell s career from 1647 through to his seizure of supreme power These decisive years saw the execution of Charles I and the establishment of the Commonwealth of England as well as notorious and savage campaigns in Ireland and Scotland Cromwell s political and military leadership were well honed after years of practice but this was also the period of his greatest ruthlessness and brutality This groundbreaking account reveals a different kind of Cromwell showing how he navigated the many forces ranged against him and rose to the pinnacle of his power

A fast paced foray through the era that changed British food forever and saw the creation of the now familiar gastropub and the rise of the celebrity chef

A brilliant and challenging book GORDON BROWNFrom the founder of Britain s leading antifascist organisation HOPE not hate this is an urgent call to resist the forces of extremism on the march in Western societies and how to go about it If you re shocked and disconcerted by the rise of intolerance and hate you re not alone Drawing from 35 years of campaigning and journalism Nick Lowles shows how anti immigration antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks have proliferated in the modern world and how Britain with the likes of Tommy Robinson and the threat of Reform UK has been far from immune from far right politics From HOPE not hate s pioneering campaigns against the BNP in east London to the impact of the manosphere and the issues in Netflix s Adolescence from explorations of the pernicious influence of race science and conspiracy theory to the interplay of deprivation and intolerance in Britain s deindustrialised towns Lowles entwines his inspirational story with hard won lessons from decades of activism His conclusions which do not shy away from awkward truths for campaigners suggest practical ways for the far right to be defeated And he shares powerful examples from a participant led youth club in Hull to Syrian refugees connecting with local p

I cannot think of a single person who wouldn t find hope and inspiration in these pages Mel Robbins This book doesn t just speak to your heart it revives it Jenna Kutcher Perfect for fans of Untamed Awake is a powerful memoir of self discovery authenticity and finding the courage to rethink and rebuild your life after heartbreak A truly brilliant read it s also a fascinating account of a woman learning to question the rules of the oppressively patriarchal US church in which she grew up At 2 30 am on July 11 2020 author and mother of five Jen Hatmaker woke up to her husband of 26 years voice texting his girlfriend in bed next to her Life as she knew it was over In Awake she scrutinises the toxic systems that led to the end of her marriage sharing intimate sometimes hilariously hard moments along the way Beautifully written and shot through with deep emotion this is a story of hope and resilience of unpicking the past and challenging limitations around the kind of person you can be It s a love letter to friendship family and the power of community and a roadmap showing how to cope survive and even thrive when all seems lost

She Died Young is the literary work of an astonishing mind in which intellect madness art and raw honesty unite It is as far from a celebrity memoir as you can get With humour honesty and a poetic sensibility Brenda Fricker traces a life journey in which her resilience and inner strength shine brightly With luminous memories of happy summers in Kerry where she and her sister Grania got up to hilarious mischief and learned to rebel against Irish orthodoxy she also explores devastating personal challenges She talks frankly of her complicated adult relationships She describes the difficulty of surviving sexual violence and living with mental illness Brenda s contributions to theatre film and television represent an artistic legacy that few can match Her work in films like The Field Swann The Swallow Home Alone 2 and My Left Foot is widely acclaimed and her character Megan in TV series Casualty was a huge success She is the first Irish actress to win an Oscar

Truth is always stranger than fiction A stunning riveting and extraordinary real life story of life in the shadows 1 International Bestselling Author Don Winslow

From actor comedian co creator of Marcel the Shell and New York Times bestselling author of Little Weirds Jenny Slate a wild soulful hilarious collection of genre bending essays depicting the journey into motherhood as you ve never seen it before What happened was this Jenny Slate was a human mammal who sniffed the air every morning hoping to find another person to love who would love her and in that period there was a deep dark loneliness that she had to face and befriend and then we are pleased to report that she did fall in love and in that period she was like chimes or a flock of clean breaths and her spine lying flat was the many colored planks on the xylophone but also she was rabid with fear of losing this love because of past injury And then what happened was that she became a wild pregnant mammal thing and then she exploded herself by having a whole baby blast through her vagina during a global plague and then she was expected to carry on like everything was normal but was this normal and had she or anything ever been normal Herein lies an account of this journey told in five phases Single True Love Pregnancy Baby and Ongoing through luminous laugh out loud funny unclassifiable essays that take the form of letters to a doctor dreams of

In her first non fiction book in a decade the no 1 bestselling writer who taught millions of readers to live authentically Eat Pray Love and creatively Big Magic shows how to break free In 2000 Elizabeth Gilbert met Rayya They became friends then best friends then inseparable When tragedy entered their lives the truth was finally laid bare the two were in love They were also a pair of addicts on a collision course toward catastrophe What if your most beautiful love story turned into your biggest nightmare What if the dear friend who taught you so much about your self destructive tendencies became the unstable partner with whom you disastrously reenacted every one of them And what if your most devastating heartbreak opened a pathway to your greatest awakening All the Way to the River is a landmark memoir that will resonate with anyone who has ever been captive to love or to any other passion substance or craving and who yearns at long last for liberation

From Sunday Times bestselling author Gyles Brandreth comes the remarkable life of A A Milne and the bear who captured millions of hearts Gyles Brandreth has a touching access to the secrets of the human heart The Times Whatever subject an author chooses or has chosen for him he reveals no secret but the secret of himself A A MilneWhen Winnie the Pooh first appeared in print on Christmas Eve 1925 his creator had no idea that this bear and the fellow inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood would go on to capture the imaginations of people of all ages all over the world for the next hundred years In this new biography Gyles Brandreth tells the remarkable story of A A Milne and of the bear of very little brain who went on to become a global phenomenon Drawing on his friendship with Milne s son the real Christopher Robin Gyles Brandreth has produced a revealing and intimate portrait of a prolific author whose legacy came to be defined by his most famous creation and of the divided Milne family who for many years had a conflicted relationship with the iconic bear This is the story of a man a boy and a bear but it is also a gripping family drama and a fascinating exploration of the complicated nature of growing up and the impossible longing for a retu

From the acclaimed author of The Pursuit of Glory and Frederick the Great a riotous biography of the charismatic ruler of 18th century Poland and Saxony and his catastrophic reign It s been a superb year for history but Augustus the Strong ranks up there with the very very best I cant recommend it strongly enough Simon Sebag Montefiore The wonderful story of one of the worst monarchs in European history told with enormous wit and scholarship by a supremely talented historian If you have the slightest interest in Germans Poles porcelain jewels the Enlightenment military disasters or the pleasures of fox tossing then this is the book for you Dominic Sandbrook Shortlisted for the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography 2025 Augustus is one of the great what ifs of the 18th century He could have turned the accident of ruling two major realms into the basis for a powerful European state a bulwark against the Russians and a block on Prussian expansion Alas there was no opportunity Augustus did not waste and no decision he did not get wrong By the time of his death Poland was fatally damaged and would subsequently disappear as an independent state until the 20th century Tim Blanning s wonderfully entertaining and original new book

From legend of the high street Mary Portas comes a no holds barred account about her time as the window dresser and creative director for Harvey Nichols that is full of juicy anecdotes from the fashi

The author of She Wolves chronicles the lives and reigns of Richard II and Henry IV two cousins whose rivalry brought their nation to the brink of disintegration and back again LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN S PRIZE FOR NON FICTION 2025 SHORTLISTED FOR THE ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY 2025 THE TELEGRAPH S BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 A glorious work of history a gripping and haunting tragedy There was no book published this year novels included that I found richer in character no plot more taut Tom Holland The Spectator A dazzling tour de force of epic royal history a compulsive unputdownable real life thriller a gripping portrait of ruthless power politics and a study of British tyranny written with the delicacy and elegance of one of Britain s most brilliant historians at the top of her game Simon Sebag Montefiore If ever a book of history was blessed with contemporary relevance this one is The dumbfounding delusional narcissistic King Richard the white knuckle ride of Henry IV dogged all the way by notions of illegitimacy I feel these men could have been ripped from today s headlines The book s great achievement is in the storytelling the unfolding drama the secrets of power and ambition so beautifully controlled

Please read this book It may very well change how you live Rachel Clarke I was spellbound Kathryn MannixDeath of an Ordinary Man is an unforgettable account of this universal aspect of life It is not a book about grief it is a book about dying and it is a book about family and care and love Sarah Perry s father in law David died in the autumn of 2022 only nine days after a cancer diagnosis Until then he d been a healthy and happy man he loved stamp collecting fish and chips comic novels his local church and the Antiques Roadshow He was in some ways a very ordinary man but as he began to die it became clear how extraordinary he was Sarah and her husband Robert nursed David themselves at home eventually with the help of carers and visiting nurses They bathed and cleaned and dressed him comforted him in pain sat with him through waking and sleeping talked to him sang to him prayed with him Day by day and hour by hour they witnessed what happens to the body and spirit as death approaches and finally arrives By the end I was left shaken deeply moved Christos Tsiolkas This book will be a lifeline for so many people Sean Hewitt To read this book is a privilege a gift on the craft of dying Amy Key

Triumph and tragedy love and loss murder and malice in the lives of five fifteenth century queens from the queen of history writing Sunday Express The fifteenth century was a turbulent age the Hundred Years War between England and France and the Wars of the Roses dominated the lives of people both inside and out of the royal courts Joan of Navarre Katherine of Valois Margaret of Anjou Elizabeth Wydeville and Anne Neville were the queens who stood by England s sovereigns caught up in wars that changed the course of their lives and the course of history They were also formidable women who defied the limitations of their times often living out the brutal consequences of their determination Alison Weir uncovers their stories in this final volume of her ground breaking series on the queens of medieval England Queens at War is a stunning culmination of research by a historian at the full extent of her powers and gripping account of five women on the throne PRAISE FOR ALISON WEIR A meticulous scholar New York Times She is an excellent storyteller descriptions are vivid and her knowledge of the sources is extensive Spectator Weir s hugely popular history books are as gripping as novels The Times Weir writes in a pacy vivid style engaging the heart

The wonderful new book from Britain s best loved travel writer In February 2025 Michael Palin travelled to Venezuela to get a sense of what life is like in one of South America s most culturally rich vibrant but also troubled nations In the journal he kept during his trip he gives a vivid account of the towns and cities he visited the landscapes he travelled through and the people he met Illustrated throughout with colour photographs taken on the trip and permeated with his warmth and humour this is a vivid and varied portrait of a complex country from the best selling author of Great Uncle Harry and Into Iraq

Guerreras olvidadas. Heroínas silenciadas. Durante siglos, la historia de la guerra ha sido contada de forma casi exclusiva en masculino. Pero desde los campos de batalla de la Antigüedad hasta las t

En esta historia de una revolución fallida, Luciano Canfora desmonta la imagen oficial de Catilina —esa que lo retrata como simple conspirador derrotado— y reconstruye, con agudeza y erudición, el pe

Una obra de no-ficció que revela un dels capítols més commovedors i desconeguts de la postguerra: la història de la maternitat d’Elna, un refugi al sud de França on van néixer més de 600 infants fill

Este libro presenta una nueva visión de la gran personalidad espiritual del Conde Alexandro de Cagliostro, sus actos milagrosos, sus curaciones, el inmenso legado espiritual que ha llegad hasta nuestros dias, en particular a traves su rito magico, esoterico y alquimico de la Alta Masoneria Egipcia.Pocos personajes encontrariamos en el seno de la historia y de la Tradicion que fueran tan injusta e ignominiosamente tratados, confundidos y ultrajados por escribas a sueldo de nefandos intereses oscurantistas como Cagliostro.Su hechos notables y su participacion activa en los grandes cambios de la sociedad de su tiempo !y del futuro¡ fueron como un relampago de luminosa esperanza que atraveso subitamente la opacidad de la noche europea, propios de un gran Adepto, quizas uno de los mas grandes que caminaron sobre este mundoA pesar de la equivoca e incluso calumniosa pluma de diversos autores, que aun hoy en dia continuan basando sus estudios sobre el Conde de Cagliostro en los infamantes libelos del Santo Oficio, que intentaron por todos los medios acallar para siempre la voz del amigo del Gran Copto, amalgamando su extraordinaria personalidad con la de un oscuro personaje, otros investigadores, mas proclives a realizar una indagacion fidedigna en su extraordinario legado, han sabido dirigir su mirada a las palabras del propio Cagliostro, quien profetizo que, con el paso del tiempo, se encontrarian en sus escritos las profundas verdades y enseñanzas que el mismo predicaba a traves del maravilloso ejemplo de una vida de servicio, abnegacion, sacrificio y amor a la Humanidad.

La música de John Adams fluye como un río que refleja y transforma la luz. A veces avanza con la serenidad de una corriente amplia; otras, irrumpe con la fuerza de un torrente inesperado. Entre el resplandor y la sombra, entre la transparencia y la densidad, Adams ha construido un lenguaje sonoro capaz de contar historias y, al mismo tiempo, de invitar a la contemplacion. Luz sobre el agua recorre su trayectoria desde los primeros pasos hasta las obras mas recientes, deteniendose en cada partitura como quien se asoma a un remanso para observar sus reflejos. Operas que dialogan con la historia "Nixon in China, Doctor Atomic, Girls of the Golden West, Antony and Cleopatra", piezas sinfonicas que expanden el espacio sonoro, y partituras que encuentran en lo intimo una fuerza tan poderosa como en lo monumental. A traves de un enfoque que combina analisis, contexto y narracion, este libro muestra como Adams ha sabido tender puentes entre tradicion y modernidad, entre lo politico y lo poetico. Sus obras, como la luz sobre el agua, cambian constantemente, pero conservan siempre una identidad inconfundible. Un viaje para escuchar con los ojos y mirar con los oidos, siguiendo el brillo movil de una de las voces mas singulares de la musica contemporanea.

The second volume in an acclaimed biography of Oliver Cromwell from the capture of Charles I to the expulsion of the Long Parliament In 1647 the Parliamentarians were divided They had won the first civil war and the king was in custody but disagreements over the way forward had led to a stalemate As the leader of one party Oliver Cromwell found himself again at the centre of events In the second volume of his pioneering biography Ronald Hutton traces Cromwell s career from 1647 through to his seizure of supreme power These decisive years saw the execution of Charles I and the establishment of the Commonwealth of England as well as notorious and savage campaigns in Ireland and Scotland Cromwell s political and military leadership were well honed after years of practice but this was also the period of his greatest ruthlessness and brutality This groundbreaking account reveals a different kind of Cromwell showing how he navigated the many forces ranged against him and rose to the pinnacle of his power

A fast paced foray through the era that changed British food forever and saw the creation of the now familiar gastropub and the rise of the celebrity chef

A brilliant and challenging book GORDON BROWNFrom the founder of Britain s leading antifascist organisation HOPE not hate this is an urgent call to resist the forces of extremism on the march in Western societies and how to go about it If you re shocked and disconcerted by the rise of intolerance and hate you re not alone Drawing from 35 years of campaigning and journalism Nick Lowles shows how anti immigration antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks have proliferated in the modern world and how Britain with the likes of Tommy Robinson and the threat of Reform UK has been far from immune from far right politics From HOPE not hate s pioneering campaigns against the BNP in east London to the impact of the manosphere and the issues in Netflix s Adolescence from explorations of the pernicious influence of race science and conspiracy theory to the interplay of deprivation and intolerance in Britain s deindustrialised towns Lowles entwines his inspirational story with hard won lessons from decades of activism His conclusions which do not shy away from awkward truths for campaigners suggest practical ways for the far right to be defeated And he shares powerful examples from a participant led youth club in Hull to Syrian refugees connecting with local p

I cannot think of a single person who wouldn t find hope and inspiration in these pages Mel Robbins This book doesn t just speak to your heart it revives it Jenna Kutcher Perfect for fans of Untamed Awake is a powerful memoir of self discovery authenticity and finding the courage to rethink and rebuild your life after heartbreak A truly brilliant read it s also a fascinating account of a woman learning to question the rules of the oppressively patriarchal US church in which she grew up At 2 30 am on July 11 2020 author and mother of five Jen Hatmaker woke up to her husband of 26 years voice texting his girlfriend in bed next to her Life as she knew it was over In Awake she scrutinises the toxic systems that led to the end of her marriage sharing intimate sometimes hilariously hard moments along the way Beautifully written and shot through with deep emotion this is a story of hope and resilience of unpicking the past and challenging limitations around the kind of person you can be It s a love letter to friendship family and the power of community and a roadmap showing how to cope survive and even thrive when all seems lost

She Died Young is the literary work of an astonishing mind in which intellect madness art and raw honesty unite It is as far from a celebrity memoir as you can get With humour honesty and a poetic sensibility Brenda Fricker traces a life journey in which her resilience and inner strength shine brightly With luminous memories of happy summers in Kerry where she and her sister Grania got up to hilarious mischief and learned to rebel against Irish orthodoxy she also explores devastating personal challenges She talks frankly of her complicated adult relationships She describes the difficulty of surviving sexual violence and living with mental illness Brenda s contributions to theatre film and television represent an artistic legacy that few can match Her work in films like The Field Swann The Swallow Home Alone 2 and My Left Foot is widely acclaimed and her character Megan in TV series Casualty was a huge success She is the first Irish actress to win an Oscar

Truth is always stranger than fiction A stunning riveting and extraordinary real life story of life in the shadows 1 International Bestselling Author Don Winslow

From actor comedian co creator of Marcel the Shell and New York Times bestselling author of Little Weirds Jenny Slate a wild soulful hilarious collection of genre bending essays depicting the journey into motherhood as you ve never seen it before What happened was this Jenny Slate was a human mammal who sniffed the air every morning hoping to find another person to love who would love her and in that period there was a deep dark loneliness that she had to face and befriend and then we are pleased to report that she did fall in love and in that period she was like chimes or a flock of clean breaths and her spine lying flat was the many colored planks on the xylophone but also she was rabid with fear of losing this love because of past injury And then what happened was that she became a wild pregnant mammal thing and then she exploded herself by having a whole baby blast through her vagina during a global plague and then she was expected to carry on like everything was normal but was this normal and had she or anything ever been normal Herein lies an account of this journey told in five phases Single True Love Pregnancy Baby and Ongoing through luminous laugh out loud funny unclassifiable essays that take the form of letters to a doctor dreams of

In her first non fiction book in a decade the no 1 bestselling writer who taught millions of readers to live authentically Eat Pray Love and creatively Big Magic shows how to break free In 2000 Elizabeth Gilbert met Rayya They became friends then best friends then inseparable When tragedy entered their lives the truth was finally laid bare the two were in love They were also a pair of addicts on a collision course toward catastrophe What if your most beautiful love story turned into your biggest nightmare What if the dear friend who taught you so much about your self destructive tendencies became the unstable partner with whom you disastrously reenacted every one of them And what if your most devastating heartbreak opened a pathway to your greatest awakening All the Way to the River is a landmark memoir that will resonate with anyone who has ever been captive to love or to any other passion substance or craving and who yearns at long last for liberation

From Sunday Times bestselling author Gyles Brandreth comes the remarkable life of A A Milne and the bear who captured millions of hearts Gyles Brandreth has a touching access to the secrets of the human heart The Times Whatever subject an author chooses or has chosen for him he reveals no secret but the secret of himself A A MilneWhen Winnie the Pooh first appeared in print on Christmas Eve 1925 his creator had no idea that this bear and the fellow inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood would go on to capture the imaginations of people of all ages all over the world for the next hundred years In this new biography Gyles Brandreth tells the remarkable story of A A Milne and of the bear of very little brain who went on to become a global phenomenon Drawing on his friendship with Milne s son the real Christopher Robin Gyles Brandreth has produced a revealing and intimate portrait of a prolific author whose legacy came to be defined by his most famous creation and of the divided Milne family who for many years had a conflicted relationship with the iconic bear This is the story of a man a boy and a bear but it is also a gripping family drama and a fascinating exploration of the complicated nature of growing up and the impossible longing for a retu

From the acclaimed author of The Pursuit of Glory and Frederick the Great a riotous biography of the charismatic ruler of 18th century Poland and Saxony and his catastrophic reign It s been a superb year for history but Augustus the Strong ranks up there with the very very best I cant recommend it strongly enough Simon Sebag Montefiore The wonderful story of one of the worst monarchs in European history told with enormous wit and scholarship by a supremely talented historian If you have the slightest interest in Germans Poles porcelain jewels the Enlightenment military disasters or the pleasures of fox tossing then this is the book for you Dominic Sandbrook Shortlisted for the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography 2025 Augustus is one of the great what ifs of the 18th century He could have turned the accident of ruling two major realms into the basis for a powerful European state a bulwark against the Russians and a block on Prussian expansion Alas there was no opportunity Augustus did not waste and no decision he did not get wrong By the time of his death Poland was fatally damaged and would subsequently disappear as an independent state until the 20th century Tim Blanning s wonderfully entertaining and original new book

From legend of the high street Mary Portas comes a no holds barred account about her time as the window dresser and creative director for Harvey Nichols that is full of juicy anecdotes from the fashi

The author of She Wolves chronicles the lives and reigns of Richard II and Henry IV two cousins whose rivalry brought their nation to the brink of disintegration and back again LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN S PRIZE FOR NON FICTION 2025 SHORTLISTED FOR THE ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY 2025 THE TELEGRAPH S BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 A glorious work of history a gripping and haunting tragedy There was no book published this year novels included that I found richer in character no plot more taut Tom Holland The Spectator A dazzling tour de force of epic royal history a compulsive unputdownable real life thriller a gripping portrait of ruthless power politics and a study of British tyranny written with the delicacy and elegance of one of Britain s most brilliant historians at the top of her game Simon Sebag Montefiore If ever a book of history was blessed with contemporary relevance this one is The dumbfounding delusional narcissistic King Richard the white knuckle ride of Henry IV dogged all the way by notions of illegitimacy I feel these men could have been ripped from today s headlines The book s great achievement is in the storytelling the unfolding drama the secrets of power and ambition so beautifully controlled

Please read this book It may very well change how you live Rachel Clarke I was spellbound Kathryn MannixDeath of an Ordinary Man is an unforgettable account of this universal aspect of life It is not a book about grief it is a book about dying and it is a book about family and care and love Sarah Perry s father in law David died in the autumn of 2022 only nine days after a cancer diagnosis Until then he d been a healthy and happy man he loved stamp collecting fish and chips comic novels his local church and the Antiques Roadshow He was in some ways a very ordinary man but as he began to die it became clear how extraordinary he was Sarah and her husband Robert nursed David themselves at home eventually with the help of carers and visiting nurses They bathed and cleaned and dressed him comforted him in pain sat with him through waking and sleeping talked to him sang to him prayed with him Day by day and hour by hour they witnessed what happens to the body and spirit as death approaches and finally arrives By the end I was left shaken deeply moved Christos Tsiolkas This book will be a lifeline for so many people Sean Hewitt To read this book is a privilege a gift on the craft of dying Amy Key

Triumph and tragedy love and loss murder and malice in the lives of five fifteenth century queens from the queen of history writing Sunday Express The fifteenth century was a turbulent age the Hundred Years War between England and France and the Wars of the Roses dominated the lives of people both inside and out of the royal courts Joan of Navarre Katherine of Valois Margaret of Anjou Elizabeth Wydeville and Anne Neville were the queens who stood by England s sovereigns caught up in wars that changed the course of their lives and the course of history They were also formidable women who defied the limitations of their times often living out the brutal consequences of their determination Alison Weir uncovers their stories in this final volume of her ground breaking series on the queens of medieval England Queens at War is a stunning culmination of research by a historian at the full extent of her powers and gripping account of five women on the throne PRAISE FOR ALISON WEIR A meticulous scholar New York Times She is an excellent storyteller descriptions are vivid and her knowledge of the sources is extensive Spectator Weir s hugely popular history books are as gripping as novels The Times Weir writes in a pacy vivid style engaging the heart

The wonderful new book from Britain s best loved travel writer In February 2025 Michael Palin travelled to Venezuela to get a sense of what life is like in one of South America s most culturally rich vibrant but also troubled nations In the journal he kept during his trip he gives a vivid account of the towns and cities he visited the landscapes he travelled through and the people he met Illustrated throughout with colour photographs taken on the trip and permeated with his warmth and humour this is a vivid and varied portrait of a complex country from the best selling author of Great Uncle Harry and Into Iraq