Here is the riveting story of the English language, from its humble beginnings as a regional dialect to its current preeminence as the one global language, spoken by more than two billion people worldwide. In this groundbreaking book, Melvyn Bragg shows how English conquered the world. It is a magnificent adventure, full of jealousy, intrigue, and war—against a hoard of invaders, all armed with their own conquering languages, which bit by bit, the speakers of English absorbed and made thei...

'This is historical fiction with a human face'Peter Ackroyd, The Times'A vivid and erudite tour de force'Penelope Lively, Booker Prize-winning author of Moon Tiger'A skilled, ornate and convincing examination of a nineteenth-century scandal in Bragg's own Cumbria'Thomas Keneally, Booker Prize-winning author of Schindler's ArkSet in the Lake District in the early ninete...

'An impressive achievement' Mail on Sunday'Fascinating' Irish Times'Penetrating and entertaining ... This book is probably as close as we shall get to him [Burton]' LA TimesRichard Burton: star. The roaring boy from the Welsh coal valleys who came to sport on the banks of the old Nile, playing great Antony to Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra.From the West End to Hollywood, from Camelot...

When we think of great events in the history of the world, we tend to think of war, revolution, political upheaval or natural catastrophe. But throughout history there have been moments of vital importance that have taken place not on the battlefield, or in the palaces of power, or even in the violence of nature, but between the pages of a book.In our digitised age of instant information it is easy to underestimate the power of the printed word. In his fascinating book, Melvyn Brag...

'A gripping saga of great passion'The Times'As splendid a ripping yarn as any of the best classics'Daily Telegraph'I loved it . . . [a] stately, seething, passionate epic'Literary ReviewBritain during the Dark Ages is the setting for the fascinating story of Bega, a young Irish princess who became a saint, and her lifelong bond with Padric, prince of the north-western ...

'Superb'Spectator'C****onsistently entertaining'Independent'Impressive and sage'New Statesman'Bragg's affection for his subject is infectious'ObserverEnglish is the collective work of millions of people throughout the ages. It is democratic, ever-changing and ingenious in its assimilation of other cultures. English runs through ...

THE FIRST NOVEL IN 'ONE OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED LITERARY SERIES IN RECENT TIMES' (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH)'His masterpiece'Sunday Times'Outstandingly good'Scotsman'A great achievement'ObserverWhen Sam Richardson returns in 1946 from the 'Forgotten War' in Burma to Wigton in Cumbria, he finds the town little changed. But the war has changed ...

By 'quite simply one of the best writers we have' (Sunday Telegraph), a profoundly moving story spanning three generations.'It is a gem' Independent'I loved it' Pat BarkerReaching from late 19th-century Cumbria to the present, this elegiac novel celebrates two spirited women: Grace, a farm labourer's daughter who fatefully followed her heart, and Mary, the child she was forced to give up. Unsung he...

BOOK ONE IN THE CUMBRIAN TRILOGY'An intensely moving, deeply worked book'Sunday Telegraph'Extraordinary'The TimesSet in Cumbria and covering the period from 1898 to the early twenties, this is the powerful saga of John Tallentire, first farm labourer, then coal miner, and his wife Emily. John's struggle to break free from the humiliating status of a 'hired man' is the theme of a novel...

Melvyn Bragg's first ever memoir - an elegiac, intimate account of growing up in post-war Cumbria, which lyrically evokes a vanished world. 'The best thing he's ever written . . . I loved it' Observer 'A memoir bursting with affection' Sunday TimesIn this elegiac and heartfelt memoir, Melvyn Bragg recreates his youth in the Cumbrian market town of Wigton: a working-class boy who expected to leave school at...

The Seventh Seal is probably Bergman's best-known work and the film that most clearly bears the director's unmistakeable signature.The opening scene sets the tone: a stony beach under a leaden sky, the knight alone with his thoughts, then the approach of black-clad Death, whom the knight invites to play a game of chess. Bergman's medieval allegory of faith and doubt is dark with the horrors of witch-burnings and the plague. But it is also shot through with bright flashes of...

'Melvyn Bragg's account of the passionate and painful love affair between the 12th century radical theologian, Peter Abelard, and the brilliant young convent-educated Eloise springs magnificently to life . . . Thrilling.' Piers Plowright, TabletWithin the Cloisters of Notre-Dame, a charismatic philosopher and a young woman renowned for her scholarship embark on an ardent, secret affair. It will send shockwaves through Paris, incur savage retribution and le...