A greatly romanticised era of history, the Tudor period kick-started one of the most significant shifts in British culture ever to occur. When the notorious Henry VIII began his hunt for a male heir it led to momentous changes: the British Crown breaking with Rome, the Reformation and the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Of the six wives Henry wed successively, two were executed – a chilling first in English history. From these tumultuous events an incredible number of hist...

The Wars of the Roses (1455-85) saw the end of Plantagenet rule in England and Wales, and the accession of the Tudor dynasty to the throne. It is sometimes seen as the end of the Middle Ages in England, and the start of the modern era, and it paved the way for the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. A surprising number of historic sites from this turbulent period survive: battlefields, castles, churches, monasteries. Peter Bramley's beautifully illustrated field guide an...

In 1464, the most eligible bachelor in England, Edward IV, stunned the nation by revealing his secret marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, a beautiful, impoverished widow whose father and brother Edward himself had once ridiculed as upstarts. Edward's controversial match brought his queen's large family to court and into the thick of the Wars of the Roses.This is the story of the family whose fates would be inextricably intertwined with the fall of the Plantagenets and...

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BYThe New York Times Book Review • The Economist • The Christian Science Monitor • Bloomberg Businessweek • The Globe and MailFrom the bestselling and award-winning author of Paris 1919 comes a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, a fascinating portrait of Europe from 1900 up to the outbreak of World War I.The century since the end of the Napoleonic wars had been the most peaceful era Europe h...

Now including an excerpt from VICTORIA: A Novel, by Daisy Goodwin, the Creator/Writer of the Masterpiece Presentation on PBS."Anyone suffering Downton Abbey withdrawal symptoms (who isn't?) will find an instant tonic in Daisy Goodwin's The American Heiress. The story of Cora Cash, an American heiress in the 1890s who bags an English duke, this is a deliciously evocative first novel that lingers in the mind." --Allison...

Travel guides are perfect for ebook readers because they're light and portable. Charming Small Hotel Guides are the only accommodation guides that combine these five essential qualities: places with character and charm, from budget to luxury; highly selective - every place worth a journey; fussy about size - smaller places with a personal welcome are favoured; two colour photos for every entry and a thoughtful description - no gushing prose; above all, they're independent - no one pays to ...

In this "tour de force of modern nature writing," a passionate naturalist explores what it's really like to be an animal—by living like them ( The Guardian, UK).In Being a Beast, Charles Foster tests the limits of our ability to walk in another's footsteps. He lives alongside badgers for weeks, sleeping in a sett in a Welsh hillside and eating earthworms, learning to sense the landscape through his nose rather than his eyes. He catches fish in his ...

Seven years of adventures, wild camping and cycling around many of Southern England's most famous trails, have reached their fruition in Stair-Rods and Stars, a humorous paperback travel narrative, written in reverse chronology, giving the feel of a gradually unfolding adventure.Adam Colton, who visited every mainland lighthouse in England and Wales with his father for his 2003 book England and Wales in a Flash, began the jaunts with the aim of filling in the gaps between the coast...

Our illustrated travel guide will take you to Paris, France.Paris, the cosmopolitan capital of France, is - with 2.2 million people living in the dense (105 km²) central city and almost 12 million people living in the whole metropolitan area - one of the largest agglomerations in Europe. Located in the north of the country on the river Seine, Paris has the reputation of being the most beautiful and romantic of all cities, brimming with historic associations and remaining vastly inf...

A wickedly funny tour of the British Isles. This book has already sold out in both first and second editions of its paperback - now available on Kindle.Based on the old First World War saying: Nickers Off Ready When I Come Home, this is the Cheekiest Tour of Britain - EVER !!Here is a tiny selection of the hundreds of positive feedbacks from customers who bought the paperback - these are all genuine (including the spellings!)- once i picked up could not put back dow...

From prize-winning historical novelist Louise Allen, this book presents nine walks through both the London Jane Austen knew and the London of her novels! Follow in Jane's footsteps to her publisher's doorstep and the Prince Regent's vanished palace, see where she stayed when she was correcting proofs of Sense and Sensibility and accompany her on a shopping expedition – and afterwards to the theatre. In modern London the walker can still visit the church where Lydia Bennett married Wickham,...

Our illustrated travel guide will take you to Manchester in the northwest of England, about equidistant between Liverpool and Leeds.Manchester once had a negative reputation derived from its industrial past. Things have dramatically changed in the last decade and now the city has a vibrant, exciting air. Investment in the city's regeneration following the 1996 IRA bomb and 2002 Commonwealth Games has paid off and Manchester is well worth a visit, even if just for a couple of days, ...