Lucy Worsley Books

Tells the compelling story of one of the finest palaces in Europe, situated on the banks of the River Thames south-west of London and a centre of court life in England from 1529 to 1737. Celebrates one of the most visited and intriguing architectural ensembles in Britain, including the palace’s original sixteenth-century buildings of Henry VIII’s reign to the late seventeenth-century Baroque additions by Sir Christopher Wren. Includes full coverage of Hampton Court’s famous and ever-popular formal gardens, a precious survival of gardening three hundred years ago. Reveals the lifestyles of monarchs, mistresses and courtiers as well as life ‘below stairs’. In the same series as Merrell’s highly popular official illustrated histories of the Tower of London and Kensington Palace

This is my kind of history: carefully researched but so vivid that you are convinced Lucy Worsley was actually there at the party - or the parsonage. Antonia Fraser

'One brilliant woman writing about another: an irresistible combination.' - Antonia Fraser 'One of the most delightful biographies I have ever read.' - A.N. Wilson 'Reading Worsley is as enjoyable as reading Christie herself.' - Ruth Scurr 'Full of unique insight, eye opening detail, sharp analysis... Gripping.' - Kate Williams 'Nobody in the world was more inadequate to act the heroine than I was.' Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was 'just' an ordinary housewife, when clearly she wasn't? As Lucy Worsley says, 'She was thrillingly, scintillatingly modern'. She went surfing in Hawaii, she loved fast cars, and she was intrigued by the new science of psychology, which helped her through devastating mental illness. So why - despite all the evidence to the contrary - did Agatha present herself as a retiring Edwardian lady of leisure? She was born in 1890 into a world which had its own rules about what women could and couldn't do. Lucy Worsley's biography is not just of an internationally renowned bestselling writer. It's also the story of a person who, despite the obstacles of class and gender, became an astonishingly successful working woman. With access to personal letters and papers that have rarely been seen, Lucy Worsley's biography is both authoritative and entertaining and makes us realise what an extraordinary pioneer Agatha Christie was - truly a woman who wrote the twentieth century.

Historian, author and TV presenter Lucy Worsley delves into the detail of Queen Victoria's life in this major new biography.

Among them, a Vice Chamberlain with many vices, a Maid of Honour with a secret marriage, a pushy painter, an alcoholic equerry, a Wild Boy, a penniless poet, a dwarf comedian, two mysterious turbaned Turks and any number of discarded royal mistresses.

"In association with Historic Royal Palaces."

Re-examining history from a female perspective, this book celebrates the numerous important roles women have played in culture and society that are less often told.Packed full of evocative images, this gloriously illustrated book reveals the key events in women's history - from early matriarchal societies through women's suffrage, the Suffragette movement, 20th-century feminism and gender politics, to recent movements such as #MeToo and International Women's Day - and the key role women have had in shaping our past.Learn about the everyday lives of women through the ages as well as the big ?names of women's history - powerful, inspirational, and trailblazing women such as Cleopatra, Florence Nightingale, Emmeline Pankhurst, Eva Peron, and Rosa Parks - and discover the unsung contributions of lesser-known women who have changed the world, and the "forgotten" events of women's history.Placing women firmly centre stage, Women - Our History shows women where they have come from, and, in celebrating the achievements of women of the past offers positive role models for women of today

Murder - a dark, shameful deed, the last resort of the desperate or a vile tool of the greedy. And a very strange, very British obsession. But where did this fixation develop? And what does it tell us about ourselves? In A Very British Murder , Lucy Worsley explores this phenomenon in forensic detail, revisiting notorious crimes like the Ratcliff Highway Murders, which caused a nation-wide panic in the early nineteenth century, and the case of Frederick and Maria Manning, the suburban couple who were hanged after killing Maria's lover and burying him under their kitchen floor. Our fascination with crimes like these became a form of national entertainment, inspiring novels and plays, puppet shows and paintings, poetry and true-crime journalism. At a point during the birth of modern Britain, murder entered our national psyche, and it's been a part of us ever since. A Very British Murder is a unique exploration of the art of crime, and a riveting investigation into the British soul by one of our finest historians.

Why, for centuries, did people fear fruit?All these questions - and more - are answered in this juicy, truly intimate history of the home. Through the bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen, Lucy Worsley explores what people actually did in bed, in the bath, at the table, and at the stove.

Mary Tudor's world is turned upside-down when her father, Henry the Eighth, declares his marriage to her mother is over and that Mary isn't really his child. How can he do such a thing? Banished from court and separated from her beloved mother, Mary realises her family will never be as she hoped. Alone for the first time in her life, Mary must fight for what is rightfully hers. Despite what anyone says, she will always be a princess. It is in her blood. But without her fierce mother by her side, will Mary find the strength? Is there anyone Mary can trust? And how will she survive?