Showing titles in Great Britain

Bloomsbury presents Lady Mary by Lucy Worsley, read by Sara Alexander A brilliantly captivating children's novel from popular television historian Lucy Worsley, exploring the most famous divorce in history from the perspective of the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. By turns...

From the birth of the house of Windsor in 1917, its leading women - Queen Mary, the Queen Mother, the Duchess of Windsor and Queen Elizabeth II - faced abdication and assassination, revolution and the rise of fascism, the threat of invasion and all-out war. Their sartorial decisions, alongside those of their royal husbands, projected power and perpetuity, diplomacy and defiance.

Bloomsbury presents Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action, written and read by Kevin Guyan Data has never mattered more. Our lives are increasingly shaped by it and how it is defined, collected and used. But who counts in the collection, analysis and application of data?...

Ancient woods are Britain's richest habitats: rare fragments of our landscape that teem with life from soil to canopy. They live in our collective imagination as quiet places, best left pristine and untouched. But their story has always been one of interdependence with people. Now, as ever...

Have you ever wondered why we count sheep to get to sleep? Or where the phrase "red herring" comes from? Across British history, animals have been written about in poetry, painted in oils, and even recorded in law. Loved or feared, familiar or endangered, animals are everywhere to be seen. In this enchanting study, Karen R. Jones takes a journey through the history of ten animals to show the extraordinary story of "beastly" Britain.

Embark on a journey to Tudor England with this self-help guide that offers engaging tips and insights for navigating the challenges of the sixteenth century.

In this engaging, accessible account, Nadine Akkerman and Pete Langman explore the methods spies actually used in the period, including disguises, invisible inks, and even poisons. Drawing on a vast array of archival sources, they show how understanding the tricks and tools of espionage allows us to reimagine well-known stories such as the Babington and Gunpowder plots.

Bloomsbury presents The Peepshow by Kate Summerscale, read by Nicola Walker. FROM BRITAIN'S TOP-SELLING TRUE CRIME WRITER WINNER OF THE CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: The Times/Sunday Times, Financial Times, Spectator, Independent, Tablet and New Statesman 'I loved...

You scramble up over the dunes of an isolated beach. You climb to the summit of a lonely hill. You pick your way through the eerie hush of a forest. And then you find them. The traces of the past. Perhaps they are marked by a tiny symbol on your map, perhaps not. There are no plaques to explain their fading presence before you, nothing to account for what they once were—who made them, lived in them, or abandoned them. Now they are merged with the landscape. They are being reclaimed by nature. They are wild history.

Codenamed Operation Telic, the British component of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was the largest gathering of British troops since the Second World War. While the British public prepared for the worst as its soldiers were facing weapons of mass destruction, most servicemen and women were under no illusion that they were invading Iraq to rid the people of Saddam Hussein.

Brought to you by Penguin. You have probably not heard of Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon but you certainly should have done. Name any 'modern' human rights movement, and she was a pioneer: feminism, equal opportunities, diversity, inclusion, mental health awareness, Black Lives Matter. While her...

Elizabeth I is one of England's most famous monarchs, whose story as the ‘Virgin Queen' is well known. But queenship was by no means a certain path for Henry VIII's younger daughter, who spent the majority of her early years as a girl with an uncertain future. Before she was three years old Elizabeth had been both a princess and then a bastard following the brutal execution of her mother, Anne Boleyn. 

When Columbus claimed to have discovered America in 1492, and the Borgia Pope claimed it as a New World for Catholic Spain, the Vatican started a 500 hundred year conspiracy to conceal the true story of Viking America. In this groundbreaking work by the author of The Early English Settlement of Orkney and Shetland, the true extent of the Viking discovery and colonization of the eastern seaboard of America is fully examined, taking into account the new archaeological, linguistic, and DNA evidence which supplements the historic account.

Continuing his exploration of British history, Timothy Venning examines the turning points of the period from the death of William I to the reign of Edward III and a little beyond. He discusses the crucial junctions at which history could easily have taken a different turn and analyzes the possible results. 

Renowned rewilder Derek Gow has a dream: that one day we will see the return of the wolf to Britain as it has already returned elsewhere. As Derek worked to reintroduce the beaver, he began to hear stories of the wolf, both real and mythical, and his fascination with this creature grew. With increasing curiosity, Derek started to piece together fragments of information, stories and artefacts to reveal a shadowy creature that first walked proud through these lands and then was hunted to extinction as coexistence turned to fear, hatred–and domination.

Jason Okundaye meets an elder generation of Black gay men and finds a spirited community full of courage, charisma and good humour, hungry to tell its past - of nightlife, resistance, political fights, loss, gossip, sex, romance and vulgarity. Through their conversations he seeks to reconcile the Black and gay narratives of Britain, narratives frequently cleaved as distinct and unrelated. Tracing these men's journeys and arrivals to South London through the seventies, eighties and nineties from the present day, Okundaye relays their stories with rare compassion.

Bordeaux, 1367. Having angered the bloodthirsty Don Pedro, King of Castile, Sir Thomas Blackstone is thoroughly sick of his mission for the Prince of Wales, but must remain true to his oath. But this is the Hundred Years' War, and tensions are rising once more. With the Prince of Wales deeply unpopular in his Aquitainian lands, Blackstone, King Edward's Master of War, must return to French soil to help stem the tide of support for the King of France. Meanwhile, Henry, Blackstone's son, faces an incognito ride across France with his own motley band of outlaws and mercenaries.

Bloomsbury presents Lion Hearts by Dan Jones, read by Ben Miles including a bonus interview with author Dan Jones and actor Genevieve Gaunt. THE GREATEST FIGHTERS HAVE EVERYTHING TO LOSE 1350 Three years on from the Siege of Calais: The Black Death has wreaked havoc in Europe. The Castilians are...

Philip Walsingham Sergeant's biography of Barbara from 1912 draws on contemporary writings to tell her story, giving a more vivid and faithful presentation of the spirit of the time. He traces her life from her early girlhood, through her time at Court, her exile, and ending with her involvement in a bigamy trial.

Bloomsbury presents James and John written and read by Chris Bryant. *A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week* ‘Carefully observed, rich in detail, imaginative, compassionate and angry. A raw, unexpected portrait of Britain’s grandeur, wealth, energy, cruelty and hypocrisy in the age of liberalism’...