**A TIMES, GUARDIAN, TELEGRAPH, SPECTATOR, THE CRITIC, MAIL ON SUNDAY, ECONOMIST AND PROSPECT BOOK OF THE YEAR** 'A gifted narrative historian, eloquent, graceful and witty; the stories she tells are the ones we all should know' Hilary Mantel It was a time of climate change and colonialism, puritans and populism, witch hunts and war . . . This is the...