A BBC History Magazine Book of the YearA writer, soldier, politician, courtier, spy and explorer, Sir Walter Ralegh lived more lives than most in his own time, in any time. The fifth son of a Devonshire gentleman, he rose to become Queen Elizabeth’s favourite, only to be charged with treason by her successor.Less than a year after the death of his Queen, Ralegh was in the Tower, watching as the scene was set for his own execution.Patrio...

Discover an invigorating new perspective on the life and work of William ShakespeareThe Life of the Author: William Shakespeare delivers a fresh and exciting new take on the life of William Shakespeare, offering readers a biography that brings to the foreground his working life as a poet, playwright, and actor. It also explores the nature of his relationships with his friends, colleagues, and family, and asks important questions about the stories ...

A quest for a valuable manuscript turns into a hunt for its author’s killer. Meet Oxford’s Eve Brook, literary detective, as she tackles her first mystery.David Morrow, Oxford don and controversial media pundit, is found dead in his college rooms. Eve Brook is recruited to complete his latest book, a dazzling takedown of "woke" history. But the manuscript is missing, and everyone Eve meets seems to have something to hide—and a reason to want Morrow dead.Set against the back...

Margery Kempe. Aemilia Lanyer. Aphra Behn. Lady Mary. Jane Austen.Warned not to write – and certainly not to bite – these women put pen to paper anyway and wrote themselves into history.‘Smart, funny and highly readable... a tour de force.’ A.L. KennedyEver since Sappho first put stylus to papyrus, women who write have been labelled mad, undisciplined and dangerous. Funny and provocative, Eve Bites Back offers an al...

The hidden history of the women who dared to write music in a man’s world.‘Lucid, engaging and exuberant... [Sounds and Sweet Airs] is terrifically enjoyable and accessible, and leaves one hankering for a second volume.’ The Sunday TimesFrancesca Caccini. Barbara Strozzi. Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre. Marianna Martines. Fanny Hensel. Clara Schumann. Lili Boulanger. Elizabeth Maconchy.Since the birth of c...

Anna Beer investigates the lives and achievements of eight women writers, uncovering a startling and unconventional history of literatureWarned not to write—and certainly not to bite—these women put pen to paper anyway and wrote themselves into history.From the fourteenth century through to the present day, women who write have been understood as mad, undisciplined, or dangerous. Female writers have always had to find ways to overcome or ch...

The Life of the Author: William Shakespeare delivers a fresh and exciting new take on the life of William Shakespeare, offering listeners a biography that brings to the foreground his working life as a poet, playwright, and actor. It also explores the nature of his relationships with his friends, colleagues, and family, and asks important questions about the stories we tell about Shakespeare based on the evidence we actually have about the man himself.The book is written u...

'rapidly becoming one of my favourite detectives' - Elly Griffiths (Sunday Times bestselling author)Old papers hide dangerous secrets. Old houses hide even more.Eve Brook, literary consultant and newly minted sleuth, expects a peaceful autumn: a hunt for ‘Hobbit gold’ in the papers of a forgotten contemporary of Tolkien and Lewis.Instead, in a crumbling Victorian villa in Oxford’s Norham Manor, she uncovers unsettling truths about her city’...

Sir Walter Ralegh’s life is romantic, irresistible, and of central importance to our island story. His death is a convoluted and contested tale of bargaining, failure and betrayal. Through the Elizabethan golden age and Ralegh’s famous adventures to the final act, Anna Beer presents his stranger-than-fiction life in all its richness.How could a man once the Queen’s favorite find himself consigned to the Tower by her successor? Should his legacy be fame or infamy? Who was the real S...

Beneath that hat is a very bad cat, her name is Moggie McFlea:The maddest, baddest, mischief-making cat in history. . . .When Magic Magda takes in villainous Moggie McFlea, things do not go well as Moggie tinkers with Magda’s every spell, resulting in cream in every fountain and a tabby on TV. Mags is in despair! But even Moggie McFlea doesn’t want to make poor Magda cry, so will they find a way to get the most out of being both naughty and nice?

**The funny, touching story of an Ice Age mammoth who finds himself in a modern day city from the bestselling author of Dogs Don't Do Ballet.Big beast. Big city. BIG TROUBLE.**When an Ice Age mammoth finds himself in a modern day city, he's not at all sure what to make of this huge, gleaming forest. Strange birds in the sky, strange beetles on the ground and strange, shouty cavemen.Is he the only mammoth in the WORLD?A warm and and endearing story a...

Comics, Activism, Feminisms explores from both historical and contemporary perspectives how comic art, activism, and feminisms are intertwined, and how comic art itself can be a form of activism.Feminist comic art emerged with the second-wave feminist movements. Today, there are comics connected to social activist movements working for change in a variety of areas. Comics artists often respond quickly to political events, making comics on topical issues that take a critica...