British History

Bill Bryson is an unabashed Anglophile who, through a mistake of history, happened to be born and bred in Iowa. Righting that error, he spent 20 years in England before deciding to repatriate. This was partly to let his wife and children experience life in Bryson's homeland - and partly because...

#1 UK Bestseller “A thoughtful, funny, companionable novel…executed with verve.”—London Times The author of the acclaimed Crooked Heart returns with a comic, charming, and surprisingly timely portrait of a once pioneering suffragette trying to find her new passion in post-WWI era London...

Shortlisted for the Whitbread Award, award-winning author of the Elric series Michael Moorcock offers a captivating and immersive portrait of London from World War II through the 1980s through the eyes of three outpatients from a mental hospital. In this masterful exploration of the human...

In volume three of Cyril Robinson's famous history of England, we now enter a crucial phase in which political and economic power both change hands. Parliament now dominates the nation's political discourse, and, led by its brilliant Whig leader, Robert Walpole, this party maintains itself in power for a century. It is a stagnant century of corrupt politics and even more corrupt government magistrates and bureaucrats. But it is also the century that will usher in the greatest change humankind has ever seen.

By the mid-19th century, other European powers became interested not only in the exploration of Africa, but the exploitation of it, especially once the German Empire unified after the Franco-Prussian War. This began a rush, spearheaded mainly by European commercial interests in the form of chartered companies, to penetrate the African interior and woo its leadership with guns, trinkets, and alcohol, and having thus obtained their marks or seals upon spurious treaties, begin establishing boundaries of future European colonies.

From the bestselling author of The Clockwork Universe and The Writing of the Gods, an “utterly delightful…hugely entertaining” (Air Mail) book about the eccentric Victorians who discovered dinosaur bones, leading to a whole new understanding of human history. In the early 1800s the natural...

Inspired by author Tori Telfer's Jezebel column “Lady Killers,” this thrilling and entertaining compendium investigates female serial killers and their crimes through the ages. When you think of serial killers throughout history, the names that come to mind are ones like Jack the Ripper...

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE A BOSTON GLOBE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR This remarkable work about women writers in the English Renaissance explodes our notion of the Shakespearean period by drawing us into the lives of four women who were committed to their craft long...

Perhaps no other single day in United States history was as threatening to the survival of the nation as August 24, 1814, when British forces captured Washington, DC. This unique moment might have significantly altered the nation's path forward, but the event and the reasons why it happened are little remembered by most Americans.

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Emily Windsnap series, Liz Kessler, comes a “brutally honest and totally believable” (Booklist, starred review) story of three young friends whose fates are intertwined during the devastation of the Holocaust—based on a true story. Three...

Like her previous books, this book will be the result of the author's passionate interest in the realities of everyday life, and the conditions in which most people lived, so often left out of history books. This period of mid-Victorian London encompasses a huge range of subjects.

Brought to you by Penguin. Get In is the definitive behind-the-scenes account of Labour’s brutal reinvention and dramatic return to power under Keir Starmer. From electoral wipeout in 2019 to landslide victory in 2024 and on into Labour’s first hundred days in government, Get In is a...

The official companion book to the HBO series Gentleman Jack created by Sally Wainwright and starring Suranne Jones In 1834, Anne Lister made history by celebrating and recording the first ever known marriage to another woman. This is her remarkable, true story. Anne Lister was extraordinary...

A mysterious heiress sets her sights on an illustrious family and nothing is quite what it seems in London high society in this clever novel from the bestselling author of The Housekeepers “Audacious, cunning, quick-witted—this is a jewel of a book from the seriously talented Alex Hay. I was...

Packed full of incident and insight, No Cunning Plan is a funny, self-deprecating and always entertaining memoir by Sir Tony Robinson. Sir Tony Robinson is a much-loved actor, presenter and author with a stellar career lasting over fifty years. In this autobiography he reveals how the boy from...

Three manuscripts in one audiobook. Start your journey today—download now to dive into Britain’s past!

During the childhood years of Queen Elizabeth II, one of the most famous women who ever lived, a young governess helped shape her into the icon the world knows today. In 1933, twenty-two-year-old Marion Crawford accepts the role of a lifetime, tutoring the little Princesses Elizabeth and...

The fantasy novel you've always wished Jane Austen had written Shades of Milk and Honey is exactly what we could expect from Jane Austen if she had been a fantasy writer:Pride and Prejudice meets Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It is an intimate portrait of a woman, Jane, and her quest for love...

The Paras: A History of the British Parachute Regiment charts the story of this iconic force in vivid detail. Beginning with Winston Churchill’s call for an airborne corps to rival Germany’s feared Fallschirmjäger, the book explores the birth of a new type of soldier—men trained not only in traditional infantry skills but also in the terrifying art of descending into combat from the skies.

"A fast-paced, often riveting account of the military and political events leading up to the Declaration of Independence and those that followed during the war ... Brands does his readers a service by reminding them that division, as much as unity, is central to the founding of our nation...