A Visitor’s Companion to Tudor England

Published by Ebury (Random House): coming out 15 March 2012.

‘A genuinely useful and discriminating guide for all Tudor fans. Full of fascinating true stories… it helps us see the world as the Tudors must have seen it.’ – Hilary Mantel

Drawing on the nation’s insatiable appetite for the Tudors, A Visitor’s Companion to Tudor England is an appealing gazetteer and bedside book featuring the surviving places, objects and stories of Tudor England.

A Visitor’s Companion provides both a practical handbook to the 50 wonderful Tudor houses, palaces, castles and sites across England, and a colourful, fascinating introduction to the key characters, stories and events of the Tudor age.

Each site – from the Tower of London and Hever Castle, to Hampton Court Palace and Buckland Abbey – tells a fascinating story either about one of the Tudor monarchs, the key characters of the period – such as Anne Boleyn, Sir Thomas More, Sir Francis Drake, Bess of Hardwick or William Shakespeare – or the stories and events of the period, including the Spanish Armada, the Dissolution of the Monasteries and  ‘Bloody’ Mary’s Protestant martyrs.

A Visitor’s Companion to Tudor England is unique: no other book couples entertaining historical writing intended for a general adult readership  - whilst drawing on the most up-to-date academic research – with a pan-England gazetteer guide to remaining Tudor sites. It’s an ideal hardback gift for Tudor enthusiasts, and an essential companion for travellers to England, armchair or otherwise.

You can pre-order it here: A Visitor’s Companion to Tudor England