Some More Great Reviews

Sorry for the silence recently, I have been working flat out to submit a book to my publishers! Normal service should resume shortly but, in the meantime, here are a few more great reviews that I've spotted.

First up, England's Queens: The Biography was featured in the March 2015 edition of The Good Book Guide. 'Covering two thousand years, this book looks at the lives and reigns, however brief, of each queen'.

The History of Royal Women blog have reviewed Elfrida: The First Crowned Queen of England here.

'Overall I loved reading about Elfrida, a woman about which I knew so little. Elfrida was certainly a powerful figure in the time of the Anglo-Saxons and I wish we knew more about her time out of royal favour and her possible involvement in King Edward's murder. It's still awesome we have an actual letter written by her! The book was a surprisingly easy read despite all the names that look alike'.

'Please go and read about Elfrida!'

The History of Royal Women blog have also reviewed England's Queens: From Boudica to Elizabeth of York (which is the first part of the reissue of England's Queens: The Biography). You can read the review here.

'There are some queens who don't have biographies of their own so it is nice to finally be able to read about them. I was surprised to learn that I definitely have things that I have yet to learn'.

'I love Elizabeth Norton's writing style and this book gives an excellent glimpse into the lives of these women. I would highly recommend it to all history lovers. I'm really looking forward to the second part'.

Some Nice Reviews

Sorry for the radio silence recently - I'm up against a book deadline, but will be back with you next month!

In the meantime, I've come across some nice reviews for my books.

Elfrida was reviewed in the January/February 2015 edition of The Good Book Guide. 'Elfrida's life is as good as any thriller and is depicted vividly in this new biography'.

There's a great review of Boleyn Women in the January 2015 issue of Tudor Life magazine, which can be accessed at the Tudor Society's website (here). 'For anyone wanting to find out more about Mary Boleyn, I would suggest this book', 'an exciting and surprising ride' and 'I would recommend this to anyone wanting to read about the Boleyn family, not even just the Boleyn women'.

A considerably earlier book of mine, Catherine Parr, has been reviewed by Tudor Times here. Comments include 'A good introduction to the topic, covering the main aspects of Katherine Parr's life, with plenty of interpretation', 'a very readable work' and 'a welcome addition to a reader seeking a wide range of interpretations of Katherine's life'.

ObituariesHelp.org

ObituariesHelp.org has just been brought to my attention. As you know, I regularly write for family history magazines and am passionate about helping people to explore their own personal history and that of their ancestors. I have had a browse through the site, which is highly recommended, and it looks like a great resource for anyone with US family. You can search for obituaries by state and then browse through the various newspapers to find your family. If you are researching your US family, do have a look!

England's Queens: From Boudica to Elizabeth of York

England's Queens: From Boudica to Elizabeth of York was published today by Amberley. This a reissue of the first part of my England's Queens: The Biography, which was published a few years ago. It's a nice new edition, with the second part to follow in a few weeks. Don't buy it if you already have England's Queens: The Biography though!

Here's the blurb:

England has always been a place of queens. The earliest known lived nearly 2000 years ago. Early queens, such as Boudica and Cartimandua, are historical figures, while others, such as Cordelia and Guinevere, are mythical. In both historical documents and romantic legends, the early queens of Britain played a prominent role, and this has never ceased to be the case.

Nearly eighty women have sat on the throne of England, either as queen regnant or queen consort, and the voices of all of them survive through their writings and those of their contemporaries. For the first time, the voices of each individual queen can be heard. This volume charts the course of English queenship from our earliest named queen, the fierce Boudica, through the Anglo-Saxons, Normans, Plantagenets, to the queens of the Wars of the Roses and the woman whose marriage brought peace after years of conflict, Elizabeth of York.

Online Court Records

Have you ever wondered whether your ancestors had a criminal past? Alternatively, maybe they were involved in a long running Chancery case to rival Bleak House's Jarndyce v Jarndyce? I wrote an article on online court records for issue 151 of Your Family Tree magazine, which is in the shops now.

Happy New Year

I just wanted to wish you all a happy New Year!

Tying up news of my books over the year, there have been a few nice mentions of my work.

BBC History magazine have included my quiz on the queens of England as one of their top 10 quizzes of 2014. You can read more here. My friend, Lauren Mackay's quiz on the six wives of Henry VIII is also included and thoroughly enjoyable.

The Boleyn Women was included as one of Anne Boleyn: From Queen to History's top 10 history books of the year: 'A wonderful, captivating and thoroughly enjoyable book'. You can read more here.

Finally, the History of Royal Women blog published a nice review of Elfrida just before Christmas: 'this book is very well researched and finally shows us Elfrida as the queen she really was'. You can read the full review here.

Otherwise, I think that's it for 2014 - five minutes left until 2015 here in the UK!

Tudor Times - A new Tudor and Stuart website

The excellent Tudor Times website went live earlier this month. It's a fantastic site, full of well researched and reliable information on the period. The first person of the month is Catherine Parr, who I have previously written a biography on. I am also currently researching her later life for my new book, The Seymour Scandal, which will be published by Head of Zeus in the UK and Pegasus in the US. Alison Weir very kindly referred to my book in her guest article on the scandal (here).

You can also read my guest article on Tudor Church Monuments (here). Church monuments are central to my academic research into the Blount family, with the monuments, and other material culture, used as a source.

There are some fascinating articles coming up over at Tudor Times and I recommend that you have a look!