Beautifully illustrated narrative history of the English country church In his engaging account, Sir Roy Strong celebrates the life of the English parish churchFrom the arrival of the missionaries from Ireland and Rome, to the beautiful architecture and rich spirituality of medieval Catholicism; from the cataclysm of the Reformation, to the gentrified cleric we meet in Jane Austen novels, Roy Strong takes us on a journey - historical, social and spiritual - to expl...

Why do we still get misty-eyed about England's green and pleasant land?What explains our obsession with country houses - from the National Trust to Downton Abbey?Why do we still dream of a place in the country?In this delightul book Roy Strong explores the definition of Englishness. Celebrating our literature, music, art, gardening and drama, Strong identifies those icons and traditions that still speak to us - it is a vision of England that is inclusive and relevan...

The definitive history of coronations and the Royal Family, from acclaimed writer Roy Strong.’What is the finest sight in the world? A Coronation.What do people talk most about? A Coronation.What is delightful to have passed? A Coronation.’Horace Walpole, 1761As a boy of sixteen, Roy Strong watched the grand procession carrying Queen Elizabeth II to her coronation. The spectacle was considered the greatest public event of the century. B...

'A triumph' INDEPENDENT'A thought-provoking and indispensable book' DAILY MAIL'An instant classic ... I have been reading it with unalloyed admiration and delight' EVENING STANDARDRoy Strong has written an exemplary introduction to the history of Britain, as first designated by the Romans. It is a brilliant and balanced account of successive ages bound together by a compelling narrative which answers the questions: ...

“At any rate,” ended Philippa-Dawn, staring up at the garland of silver monsters gently swaying above them in the evening sky, “at any rate, it’ll be a change of Balloons.”Carola Oman’s irresistible sequel to Nothing to Report begins with young, perky Philippa-Dawn Johnson, preparing to launch her nursing career at Woodside, the country home now overseen as a hospital by none other than the redoubtable Mary Morrison. Pippa soon encounters other faces familiar to r...

“I have told Rose that there will be a chauffeur for dinner,” she ended, frowning slightly at the cannibalistic sound of her sentence.Unmarried and nicknamed “Button” by her friends, Mary Morrison is a (very mildly) distressed gentlewoman. She no longer lives in her family home, but remains at the very centre of village life, surrounded by friends including carefree, irresponsible Catha, Lady Rollo, just back from India and setting up lavish housekeeping nearby with her hu...

Georgian landscape gardens are among the most visited and enjoyed of the UK's historical treasures The Georgian garden has also been hailed as the greatest British contribution to European Art, seen as a beautiful composition created from grass, trees and water – a landscape for contemplation. But scratch below the surface and history reveals these gardens were a lot less serene and, in places, a great deal more scandalous. Beautifully illustrated in colour and black & white, this book is ...

This is a sweeping history of Britain which answers the questions: 'Where do we come from?' and 'Where are the we going?' When The Story of Britain was originally published to great acclaim in 1996, Andrew Roberts declared it 'classic popular history' and Antonia Fraser said 'History at its best'. Roy Strong's mission was to produce an accessible one-volume history which would clearly depict Britain's origins, and explain how the past shaped our current identity. He begins the sto...

'You read her, laughing, and want to do your best to protect her characters from any reality but their own' New York TimesIt is 1945. When peace breaks out at last, familiar wartime routines are interrupted, and the residents of Barsetshire seem as disconcerted as they are overjoyed.As the country's eligible young men return home, life regains momentum: before long, everyone is spinning in a flurry of misunderstandings and engagements. The older ge...

There was silence. In it Janet heard the twittering of innumerable birds chatting as they settled down for the night. Some rooks cawed overhead. The baa of a sheep came from a distant field. London had been so noisy, with its crashes at night, and blastings and hammerings at smashed buildings by day, that the quiet and peace fell on her spirit like a cold hand on a sprained ankle.Janet Brain has been bombed out of her job in a London office and comes to the village of Wors...

...for the first time in her life, she was living as she had always unknowingly wanted to live: in freedom and solitude, with an animal for close companion. Her new life had acted upon her like a strong and delicious drug.Ivy Gover, a curmudgeonly middle-aged charwoman with some slightly witchy talents, inherits a rural cottage in Buckinghamshire and takes up residence near the tiny village of Little Warby. Having settled in with a rescued dog and a pet pigeon, she manages...

When the time comes for you to retire, Hugo, if you want a quiet life, don't settle down in the country. Bury yourself in London or any really large city, and you can live like a hermit, but avoid the outskirts of a village. I am dazed by the ceaseless whirl of activities in which almost everyone in and round Ravenskirk is involved.Sara Monteith makes an ideal correspondent for Hugo Jamieson, brother of her lost love Ivo, killed in the war before they could marry. Her neig...