European history

The Twitnam Summer: Friendship, Satire and the Writing of Gulliver’s Travels

‘A rollicking, brilliant book’ GARETH RUSSELL, author of Queen James

‘A very fine piece of biographical work, erudite but accessible’ JOHN STUBBS, author of Jonathan Swift

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.

Forgotten Forests: Twelve Thousand Years of British and Irish Woodlands

Ancient trees, some over a thousand years old, are dotted around the British Isles, the last survivors of a lost world. Now, new scientific studies of these trees and of fossilised forests and of our oldest wooden artifacts can help us to understand the many woodlands that have disappeared from our landscapes.

Parallel Lives: A Love Story from a Lost Continent

This is the simplest tale in the world. Two people meet and fall in love. But the route which brought Larissa Salmina and Francis Haskell to a backstreet Venetian restaurant in 1962 was anything but straightforward.

Kafkaesque: Ten Great Writers Translate the Twentieth Century

‘A book to underline endlessly, to carry around until battered, and then to tell all your friends to buy because you’re too reluctant to give up your own copy. A wonder’ Polly Barton

‘Brings a welcome freshness of vision and a dashing style … provocative and illuminating’ The Spectator

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Battle of the Arctic: The Maritime Epic of World War Two

WINSTON CHURCHILL called it ‘the worst journey in the world’. But was even this telling quote, describing the nightmarish torment experienced while transporting military aid to northern Russia during World War Two, an understatement?

Izabela the Valiant: The Story of an Indomitable Polish Princess

A Spectator Best Book of the Year

Trawling through a vast family archive and arcane sources in half a dozen languages, Adam Zamoyski has revealed the dramatic life of his great-great-great grandmother, an uneducated, vulnerable girl cast into a man’s world.

Storm’s Edge: Life, Death and Magic in the Islands of Orkney

‘A surprising page-turner, full of humour and startling details’ THE TIMES

‘If I read a better history this year, I will be lucky’ TOM HOLLAND

‘An astonishing tour de force’ SPECTATOR

Longlisted for the 2024 Highland Book Prize

Queen James: The Life and Loves of Britain’s First King

‘James comes alive in full flamboyance … Russell expertly weaves the bedchamber gossip into the tapestry of a tumultuous reign’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘Brings the backbiting and power struggles of the Jacobean court to life with wit and vigour’ OBSERVER

‘A warts and all story told with compassion’ PHILIPPA GREGORY

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