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The Blood in Winter

The thrilling story of England's descent into civil war

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The Blood in Winter

By: Jonathan Healey
Narrated by: Mark Meadows
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Bloomsbury presents The Blood in Winter by Jonathan Healey, read by Mark Meadows.

‘You could hardly find a more engrossing or exciting story’ Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times
‘Rollicking’ Telegraph
‘Gripping’ Financial Times
‘History as it should be told’ Alice Loxton

A thrilling political history about the months that brought England to the cusp of civil war, from the acclaimed author of The Blazing World

A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: THE TIMES/SUNDAY TIMES, TELEGRAPH AND HISTORY TODAY

A nation on the cusp of war.

A king ousted from his capital by the people.

A society on the brink of collapse.

Why did the English Civil War break out? From Jonathan Healey comes a thrilling portrait of an English people’s great political awakening, and of a nation that splintered into bloodshed at a terrifying speed.©2025 Jonathan Healey (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Early Modern Warfare Europe Great Britain Military Weapons & Warfare England War Royalty Civil War Emotionally Gripping Winter
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Critic reviews

Jonathan Healey’s brilliant narrative history, sees a spry cast of characters navigate the uncertain lead-up to war . . . Energetic and exceptional . . . Takes us beyond the disputes in Westminster . . . A book that bursts with character, a vivid reconstruction of England on the brink . . . It's a pleasure to read Healey’s stylish and fluid prose . . . A rollicking history, packed with fire and excitement (Daniel Brooks)
A lucid, fast-paced and exhilarating account of how, if not necessarily why, England descended into civil war . . . Vivid details brighten almost every page . . . There is hardly a paragraph not enlivened by his eye for the mannerisms, quirks and eccentricities of the actors in his story . . . Highly accomplished and impressively accessible . . . Its pages teem with larger-than-life personalities and dramatic incident . . . The House of Cards-ish drama remains gripping to the last (John Adamson)
This superb narrative history adds a rich cast of supporting characters, from Clerkenwell prostitutes to fire-and-brimstone preachers
Gripping . . . A galloping narrative . . . Healey deftly joins the dots between several points of no return. He writes briskly and accessibly, even to the point of tabloid snappiness . . . Discreetly, and persuasively, merges different currents in civil war history . . . Healey makes these elite manoeuvres lucid, lively, even suspenseful . . . Gives us gripping history from below as well as from above (Boyd Tonkin)
A forensically detailed, unputdownable account of the bleak winter of 1642, as England tumbled into war. It was dark, messy and complicated but Healey, always with an eye for the everyday and the quirky, tells a thoroughly human story of this most cataclysmic event (Alice Hunt)
Netflix should make this enjoyable English civil war history into an epic drama . . . An old-fashioned Westminster thriller, meticulously following the relationship between the proud, prickly Charles and his parliamentary critics . . . Creates a sense of atmosphere from the confusing, claustrophobic warren of the Palace of Westminster to the reeking streets of the City of London (Dominic Sandbrook)
Gives a relatively familiar narrative startling freshness . . . A fine, engaging and judicious book (Marcus Neavitt)
A detailed, richly atmospheric narrative . . . Healey is excellent at explaining the thorny political and religious issues at stake, but also has a nice eye for local colour: the filth and stench in the streets, the baroque obscenities with which fishwives taunted their neighbours (Dominic Sandbrook)
All stars
Most relevant
Atmospheric narrative about the root causes that led to the start of the English civil war. This is more in depth as it focuses on a smaller period in history and helps build the character of the people involved and the twist and turns along the way. Enjoyable history book

Helps to understand the path to civil war

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Excellent discourse and narration of the events leading to the English Civil War of the 1640's.

Excellent book.

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The book is badly written. The author is obviously an expert in his field, and the story ought to be riveting, but in his hands it is humdrum. At one point, which almost made me stop listening, he describes London as ‘crawling with horses’: an ill-chosen metaphor, because horses do not crawl or do anything resembling crawling. ‘London was full of horses’ or ‘London had many horses’ would have done fine. In another passage, presumably writing automatically, he tells of Charles travelling through London past houses with wooden doors and glass windows, and women wearing skirts. I don’t think any reader would have thought the doors were UPVC, the windows Perspex, and the women wore jogging pants.

The performance is stolidly mediocre, with the usual plethora of extra stresses and unneeded emphasis, and strange Frenchified pronunciations of words like ‘piquant’.

Poorly written; mediocre performance

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The author opens up this sad but intriguing period of England’s history by his well told narrative. He brings to life the many characters who play roles in the story. He digs deeper than the simple explanations to which we are used to. His extensive work into the preserved papers and letters is well rewarded by how it is used. Thank you author for all your work in producing this excellent book concerning events which carry lessons and even warnings to today’s society and times.

A history compellingly told

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narrator was a bit bland but I perceived overall not to bad some very interesting facts though

not many mentions of cromwell

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