Peter Ackroyd

Here are two thousand years of London's history and folklore, its chroniclers and criminals and plain citizens, its food and drink and countless pleasures.

One of Britain's most popular and esteemed historians tells the epic story of the birth of England. The first in an extraordinary six-volume history, "Foundation" takes the reader from the primeval forests of England's prehistory to the death, in 1509, of the first Tudor king, Henry VII.

Biographer and novelist Ackroyd brings William Shakespeare to life in the manner of a contemporary rather than a biographer. His method is to position the playwright in the context of his world, exploring everything from Stratford's humble town to its fields of wildflowers; discerning influences on the plays from unexpected quarters; and entering London with the playwright as modern theatre, as we know it, is just beginning to emerge. Writing as though...

"The scene is London in 1399. The strangest and most interesting king in English history, Richard II, is on the throne. Over the past several years his reign has been troubled by peculiar signs and portents, and as the turn of the century approaches, there is talk of an apocalypse. Meanwhile a mad nun, who was born beneath the convent of Clerkenwell, is visited by visions of the future. As Sister Clarice's prophecies signal the beginning of dark days...