Great Britain

'First-class. I read it with great interest and fascination.' – Jean Ritchie What drives seemingly ordinary individuals to commit unimaginable acts of evil? In the case of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, this question has haunted Britain for decades. Known as the Moors Murderers, this notorious...

Globally famous and yet universally misunderstood – these are the complex and utterly engrossing stories of Britain's royal women behind the public façade. Saints or sinners? Perfect princesses or difficult duchesses? Monarchy’s saviours or its destroyers? They rank among the world’s most...

An authoritative biography of Offa of Mercia, revealing his importance as the king who stood at the turning point of Anglo-Saxon history Offa ruled the Mercian heartland of the west midlands from 757 to 796. But while Alfred the Great and his dynasty are seen as agents of a new beginning that...

'A brilliant book by one of the best culture writers in the UK' MIRANDA SAWYER 'A thrilling, immersive journey' ★★★★ RECORD COLLECTOR Spanning seven decades and with over 150 new interviews, including Richard Hawley, Arctic Monkeys, Self Esteem, ABC, Pulp, Def Leppard, The Human League...

'A rollicking, brilliant book' GARETH RUSSELL 'Hugely enjoyable' SUNDAY TIMES A rollicking narrative history set during the extraordinary summer of 1726 when Jonathan Swift arrived in London from Dublin, with a draft of Gulliver’s Travels in his bag. Jonathan Swift settled into his great...

Bloomsbury presents The Wise and Their Works: The Legacy of the Great Exhibition of 1851, written and read by A. N. Wilson The Wise and Their Works celebrates the 175th anniversary of the Great Exhibition in 2026. The men who inspired the Great Exhibition of 1851 - Henry Cole, Sir Robert Peel...

Bloomsbury presents So Great a Prince by Lauren Johnson, read by Matthew Biddulph. The King is dead: long live the King. In 1509, Henry VII was succeeded by his son Henry VIII, second monarch of the house of Tudor. But this is not the familiar Tudor world of Protestantism and playwrights...

Winston Churchill was born in a palace and was given a funeral worthy of a king. His family had enjoyed an intimate association with the British monarchy stretching back centuries. As King Edward VIII said of him, "I have never met anyone of royal blood who exemplified in such high degree the...

A remarkable true story about saving life in wartime, not taking it The Lifesavers were a little-known band of men and women at the forefront of groundbreaking battlefield care in the Second World War. As part of a new and pioneering service, unconventional and iconoclastic, they pushed and...

An enthralling account of Mary, Queen of Scots' captivity in England, revealing intrigue, plots, and political turmoil. Discover a thrilling true story of treachery, deceit, hope, and despair. From the moment Mary, Queen of Scots set foot on English soil in 1568 until her execution at...

"With impressive scholarly sleuthing and a storyteller's eloquence, Danielle Allen has written a landmark book about the people and the ideas that changed the world. By bringing the glamorous Duke of Richmond back to life, Allen paints a panoramic portrait of how principles of human equality and...

With provocative insight and based on an illustrious 40-year career in public office, Sir Al Aynsley-Green demands to know why outcomes for the UK’s children for health, education, social care, youth justice and poverty remain among the worst in the developed world. He draws global comparisons...

A provocative exploration of the life of Anne Boleyn through a feminist lens, examining her influence on the reformation and relevance for a new generation. In a story that has intrigued people for generations, this Queen of England has been portrayed as a power-hungry manipulator and as a patsy...

The Sceptic Isle provides a bold reassessment of how the British government sold the Second World War to the British public. It powerfully showcases the major credibility gap that cast a long shadow over the British government's efforts to sell the different dimensions of the Second World War to the home front.

Bloomsbury presents Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity by Elizabeth Wilson, read by Madeleine Leslay When Adorned in Dreams was first published in 1985, Angela Carter described the book as ‘the best I have read on the subject, bar none.’ From haute couture to haberdashery, and...

Bloomsbury presents The Land of the Green Man by Carolyne Larrington, read by Kim Hicks Beyond its housing estates and identikit high streets there is another Britain. This is the Britain of mist-drenched forests and unpredictable sea-frets: of wraith-like fog banks, druidic mistletoe and...

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. A tribute to the female agents whose war in the shadows saved thousands of lives, this is the first-ever to tell the story of all 40 SOE female agents of F Section, including Nancy Wake The history of SOE's war in the shadows has been told many times...

The Anglo Saxon Chronicle was only the first of many English histories to be compiled over many generations in the scriptoria of Britain – the chronicle hammered out by monks in Worcester in the 12th century is the only one that made any claim to be 'ultimate', or 'The Chronicle of Chronicles'.

In this audio book we will take a look at my personal top twenty heritage railways in the UK, including what else there is to see and do in the area in addition to the railway itself. A visit to a heritage railway is a great day out for all.

Written in two parts in an accessible, conversational style, this book is more than a ‘how-to’ primer on the cue-script method: how Shakespeare and his actors staged his plays with minimal to no full company rehearsal. In Part 2, the author (a professional actor, director and academic...