Time period: 18th century

It is the eve of the French Revolution & England awaits news from the Continent that will propel her into war again. But Lieutenant Hayter's orders from the Admiralty do not involve the sea. He must go inland to seek out Captain William Rennie.

From the age of twelve, the Baron Cosimo Piovasco di Rondo makes his home among ash, elm, magnolia, plum and almond. He walks through paths made from the twisted branches of olive, makes his bed in a holly oak, bathes in a fountain constructed from poplar bark. An aerial library holds the books w...

Winter 1793 - the reign of terror rips through revolutionary France, as every able-bodied man is pressed into military service. The city of Toulon has turned itself over to the British - the red ensign of Lord Admiral Hood's flagship, Victory, offering a defiant symbol of protection to its people.

Beethoven imbibed Enlightenment and revolutionary ideas in Bonn where they were fervently discussed in cafes and at the university. At the age of twenty-one, he moved to Vienna to study with Haydn, gaining renown as a master pianist and innovative composer. In the capital of the Hapsburg Empire, ...

This title presents the extraordinary true story behind the film 'Belle'. Dido Belle appears, in her famous portrait alongside her 'sister' and companion Lady Elizabeth Murray, a vision of aristocratic virtue. But she was no normal 18th-century lady, and this was no common painting. Adopted and r...

Dido Belle appears, in her famous portrait alongside her 'sister' and companion Lady Elizabeth Murray, a vision of aristocratic virtue. But she was no normal 18th-century lady, and this was no common painting. Adopted and raised by Lord Mansfield - one of the most powerful men of the day - her mi...

This title presents the extraordinary true story behind the film 'Belle'. Dido Belle appears, in her famous portrait alongside her 'sister' and companion Lady Elizabeth Murray, a vision of aristocratic virtue. But she was no normal 18th-century lady, and this was no common painting. Adopted and r...

This title presents the extraordinary true story behind the film 'Belle'. Dido Belle appears, in her famous portrait alongside her 'sister' and companion Lady Elizabeth Murray, a vision of aristocratic virtue. But she was no normal 18th-century lady, and this was no common painting. Adopted and r...

Susan Bell spends her days within the confines of Westminster Abbey, one of many who live in the grounds of the ancient building. Her father, the kindly but foolish Dean of Westminster, is always busy keeping the many canons and vergers in check, when not being romantically pursued by forceful wi...

A season of darkness has spread throughout Europe as the French Revolution stirs up civil unrest and provokes fear among the authorities. Struggling to makes ends meet, and plagued by a never ending assault from his enemies, Wolgang Amadeus Mozart is determined to fulfil his destiny, as foretold ...

With a unique focus on the fullness of Benjamin Franklin's life in London, from 1757 to 1775, George Goodwin presents an enthralling portrait of the man, the city and the age.

Set in the buried streets of Georgian London and the outrageous underworld of the molly houses, a carpenter hiding a double life searches for a traitor who is betraying the secrets of the mollies.

The Door of No Return, on the island of Goree off the coast of Senegal, is where millions of Africans last touched their home continent's soil, before they were transported to slavery in the Americas. When French naturalist Michel Adanson travels to Senegal in 1749, he hears the story of a woman ...

This is Herman Melville's last work, in which he delivers the final summation in his 'quarrel with God'. When Billy Budd, innocently good, accidentally kills the evil Claggart, Captain Vere feels honour-bound to hang Billy in the name of justice.

It is 1792 and Europe is seized by political turmoil and violence. Lizzy Fawkes has grown up in Radical circles where each step of the French Revolution is followed with eager idealism. But she has recently married John Diner Tredevant, a property developer who is heavily invested in Bristol's ho...

It is 1792 and Europe is seized by political turmoil and violence. Lizzy Fawkes has grown up in Radical circles where each step of the French Revolution is followed with eager idealism. But she has recently married John Diner Tredevant, a property developer who is heavily invested in Bristol's ho...

This volume focuses on the social impact of early industrialization on the population and looks at living standards, work and leisure, crime and the law, religion, education, the Poor Law and popular protest.

Georgian England had a large and distinctive Black community. Yet all of them, prosperous citizens or newly freed slaves, ran the risk of kidnap and sale to plantations. Their dramatic, often moving story is told in this book.

Georgian England had a large and distinctive Black community. Yet all of them, prosperous citizens or newly freed slaves, ran the risk of kidnap and sale to plantations. Their dramatic, often moving story is told in this book.