Rose Tremain Books

The BP Portrait Award, now in its twenty-first year, is one of Britain's most prestigious art prizes, and is the leading showcase for artists throughout the world specialising in portraiture. Last year nearly 300,000 people visited the exhibition, which is based on the competition open to all artists aged eighteen and over from around the world. The catalogue features sixty works from an international list of artists, which together display a diverse range of styles and painterly techniques. It also includes a fascinating essay by bestselling novelist Rose Tremain and an illustrated article by the 2009 Travel Award winner Isobel Peachey. Peachey describes the journeys she undertook to Switzerland and Belgium to document historical re-enactment weekends in which participants recreated life in a medieval castle and a Napoleonic battle. Her account and the accompanying portraits capture her sitters' passionate involvement in recreating the past, and their dual identity as contemporary people re-enacting historical events.

From the author of The Gustav SonataThe bestselling and much-loved classic from Orange Prize-winning Rose Tremain, Restoration introduces us to the young Robert Merivel and his rise and fall through glittering seventeenth-century society.

Set in seventeenth-century England, the story follows Robert Merivel, a physician and courtier to Charles II, as he grapples with the complexities of middle age. As he questions his roles as a father, master, and friend to the King, Merivel embarks on a journey to the French court of Versailles. His quest for self-discovery leads to a series of misadventures, blending humor and introspection in a richly depicted historical context.

Court physician Robert Merivel has a middle age crisis and sets off for Versailles where he meets Madame de Flamanville, a Swiss botanist, and rescues a captive bear to take back to Bidnold Manor.

Certain that she is really a male trapped in a female's body, Mary Ward pursues this elusive identity, much to the consternation of her mother, her brother, and a neighbor's son.

Restoration is a dazzling romp through 17th-century England. The main character Robert Merivel not only embodies the contradictions of his era, but ours as well. He is trapped between the longing for wealth and power and the realization that the pursuit of these trappings can leave one's life rather empty.

What is the difference between friendship and love? Gustav grows up in a small town in Switzerland, where the horrors of the Second World War seem a distant echo. But Gustav's father has mysteriously died, and his adored mother Emilie is strangely cold and indifferent to him. Gustav's life is a lonely one until he meets Anton. An intense lifelong friendship develops but Anton fails to understand how deeply and irrevocably his life and Gustav's are entwined until it is almost too late... 'A perfect novel about life's imperfection... Tremain is writing at the height of her inimitable powers...' Kate Kellaway, Observer 'Heartbreaking, unsentimental and beautifully written, and it reinforces my opinion that there are few writers out there with the dexterity or emotional intelligence to rival that of the great Rose Tremain.' John Boyne, The Irish Times

Lev is on his way to Britain to seek work, so that he can send money back to eastern Europe to support his mother and little daughter. He struggles with the mysterious rituals of 'Englishness', and the fashions and fads of the London scene. We see the road Lev travels through his eyes, and we share his dilemmas.

Set in 1629, this is the story of young English musician, Peter Claire, who joins the Danish Court to play with the Royal Orchestra - He finds himself falling in love with the Queen's companion and begins to tread the path of divided loyalties.

In "The Colour" by Rose Tremain, newlyweds Joseph and Harriet Blackstone move to New Zealand with Joseph's mother, seeking a fresh start. However, the harsh environment near Christchurch challenges them. Joseph discovers gold and becomes consumed by greed, abandoning his family for the perilous goldfields, where many meet their fate.