Author:Paul O'Keeffe
'Excellent... It is a tremendous tale - one of the most dramatic in our island's history - and O'Keeffe tells it beautifully' The Times
Charles Edward Stuart's campaign to seize the British throne ended with one of the quickest defeats in history: on 16 April 1746, at Culloden, his Jacobite army was overpowered in under forty minutes. Its brutal repercussions, however, endured for years, its legacy for centuries.
Paul O'Keeffe follows the Jacobite army from initial victories to calamitous defeat. Exploring the battle's aftermath, he chronicles the Jacobite prisoners paying for their treason on block and gibbet while those granted 'the King's mercy' suffered the fate of forced labour on plantations in the colonies. While Stuart's cause eventually acquired an aura of romanticism, the Jacobite Rising remains one of the most bloody and divisive conflicts in British domestic history, which resonates to this day.
'Detailed, vivid - and not for the faint-hearted' Financial Times
'Fascinating, meticulously researched... tremendous' Daily Mail
'Intensely readable... and vividly written' Neal Ascherson, London Review of Books
A tremendous tale - one of the most dramatic in our island's history - and O'Keeffe tells it beautifully,
—— Saul David , The TimesFascinating, meticulously researched, often brutally detailed ... without being there, those times could not be more vividly brought to life than in this tremendous book
—— Roger Alton , Daily MailBrings the last battle on British soil to life with page-turning vivacity
—— Mail on SundayA fascinating portrait of 18th-century Britain as an age of elegance and brutality... I recommend this book strongly
—— Allan Massie , ScotsmanA fascinating portrait of eighteenth-century Britain as an age of elegance and brutality... I recommend this book strongly
—— Allan Massie , Scotsman, *Books of the Year*Detailed, vivid - and not for the faint-hearted
—— Financial TimesIntensely readable... [and] vividly written
—— Neal Ascherson , London Review of BooksA vibrant and vivid tale, of victory, defeat, savage retribution and 'high' art... In our field one is often inclined to think or say, 'Do we really we need yet another book on Culloden?' However, if they are written as well and as excitingly as Paul O'Keeffe's...then the answer is a resounding 'Yes!'
—— Robert Woosnam-Savage FSA, Curator Emeritus, Royal Armouries, University of LeedsA luminous portrait of both Amrit Kaur and Livia Manera: two exceptional women who had to question their assigned fates as daughters, wives, lovers and mothers in order to define themselves
—— Judith Thurman, author of SECRETS OF THE FLESHPlenty of jewels, plenty of balls, plenty of secret agents and adventurous characters but also plenty of pain in the story that Manera tells, intertwining the destiny of a special woman to the vortex of equally special times.
—— Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy'This biography is a many-faceted gem'
—— Asian Review of BooksWeaving together biography and her personal narrative . . . [this is] an engaging book, with twists, turns, and detours galore'
—— Kirkus Reviews'[Manera Sambuy's] eloquent and poetic prose enlivens the searching historiography. Original and difficult to classify, [In Search of Amrit Kaur] is a pleasure to read'
—— Publishers WeeklyRich with originality and memoiristic detail
—— New StatesmanA fluent and authoritative account of Europe since the Second World War
—— Literary ReviewAn insightful analysis of the transformation of central and eastern Europe in the decades between the Hungarian revolution of 1956 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
—— GuardianGarton Ash is a clear-headed chronicler of the Continent [and] Homelands is an engaging read
—— Irish TimesAn authoritative big picture well matched with revealing, important human details
—— The TabletTimothy Garton Ash tells the epic story of ... [postwar] Europe
—— Irish TimesExcellent ... Read as a letter, such gemlike vignettes can be treasured. Because in them, Garton Ash has captured something of what it means to be European. Though he is proudly in love with Europe, he is not blind to its faults
—— Washington ExaminerPart memoir, part history and is fascinating, rich in anecdote, and at times intensely moving
—— The Times, *Summer Reads of 2023*A panoramic contemporary history of Europe, in which sharp political analysis is enlivened with personal memoir — drawn from decades of distinguished work as a journalist and academic
—— Financial Times, *Books of the Year*Extraordinary. Exhaustively researched and beautifully (and wittily) written, a thrilling and immersive tale that offers the reader a rare window into the terrifying events of the English Civil War when religion and ambition divided families, friends and neighbours. One of the finest books I've read for years, a stunning achievement
—— Saul DavidThe Siege of Loyalty House is not only deeply researched. Childs has composed a wonderfully poetic narrative and adds a touch of the gothic
—— Leanda de Lisle , The TimesThis heroic story has not been told before in such detail and with such an eye for the tragedies of civil war. Childs handles a remarkable amount of source material with masterly skill...Thrilling
—— Linda Porter , Literary ReviewGripping ... The accumulation and deployment of facts is impressive. The understanding of what they signify is profound. The elegance, wit and brio of the writing is sheer delight
—— Allan Mallinson , Country LifeThe Siege of Loyalty House is exciting and scholarly, vivid and accessible. It is a perfectly-crafted triumph of narrative history...one of the most pulsating books on seventeenth-century England I have read for many years
—— CriticIn Jessie Childs [Basing House] finds at last a writer able to bring out in full its excitement, pathos, glory and tragedy, with a deep political, military and social context. As so many of the defenders of the house were transplanted Londoners, it is a tale that links the heart of Hampshire to the heart of the capital. Local Civil War history does not get better than this.
—— Professor Ronald HuttonChilds brilliantly shows us the world of the civil war
—— Daily Telegraph, *Summer Reads of 2022*Enthralling... This is history as rip-roaring narrative. ... Both her previous books won awards, and I would be amazed if this does not make it a hat-trick
—— Art NewspaperFantastically well written
—— Sunday TimesA masterpiece
—— Monty DonJessie Child's The Siege of Loyalty House turns an English Civil War stand-off into a fable of murderous polarisation: gripping, timely history
—— Spectator, *Best Books of 2022 I*The Siege of Loyalty House ... tingles with a discerning historical imagination
—— Spectator, *Best Books of 2022 II*[A] thrilling tale of war
—— Mail on Sunday[A] gripping tale of a royalist house standing its grown against the Roundheads ... Atmospheric, unflinching, and at times extraordinarily witty
—— UK Daily News, *Best History and Politics Books of 2022*[A] poignant book... the story is timeless
—— Economist, *Books of the Year*Compelling
—— Spectator, *Books of the Year 2022*Exhaustively researched and beautifully written, [The Siege of Loyalty House] tells the story of the epic two-year siege of Basing House, a royalist mansion finally captured by Oliver Cromwell in 1645.
—— Daily Express, *Books of the Year 2022*When you are as good a writer as Jessie Childs, and as assuredly immersed in the archives, the pages zing with the technicolour of celluloid. ... [A] masterpiece.
—— Critic, *Non-fiction books of the year 2022*Childs writes an engrossing, spellbinding narrative while laying out a clear and comprehendible history
—— New York Journal of BooksThe broad subject of this poignant book is what happens to people during civil war: how quickly and imperceptibly order becomes chaos and decency yields to cruelty. In other words, how close to inhumanity humanity always is. The focus is on an episode in the English civil war, but the story is timeless
—— EconomistA gripping account of the agony at Basing, The Siege of Loyalty House is also a potted social history of the civil wars and how they started. Jessie Childs, [is] a gifted storyteller
—— London Review of Books