White King

A revelation… White King is that rare thing, a page-turning history that gently but insistently also asks provocative questions about a period on which our opinions have been all too fixed. Charles does not emerge with his reputation restored, but he emerges whole – Mathew Lyons * Financial Times *Fascinating – Andrew Marr * Evening Standard *Humane and scholarly… De Lisle’s deeply and originally researched book brings Charles alive not in kingly isolation but as a father and a husband. Both biography and subject deserve our fullest attention – Dan Jones * Mail on Sunday *Engaging, well-researched and beautifully written… Emphatically not another book about the civil wars, this instead offers a nuanced and detailed examination of one of our most complex monarchs. It is probably the definitive modern work about Charles I – Alexander Larman * Observer *De Lisle, who has long been an original voice in popular Tudor studies, is generous to Charles, but too sharp a reader of evidence to ignore his flaws… Pellucid, compelling and enriched by fresh evidence… Sympathetic but scrupulous to the last – Jessie Childs * Sunday Telegraph *An impeccably researched and thought-provoking biography which reads as well as a fine novel… It also revives one of this country’s greatest stories: a blinkered king, a warrior queen, a war that turned brother against brother and scandals caused by money, sex, espionage and power, woven together in the life of this extraordinary but flawed king – Gareth Russell * Daily Express *Formidable… with remarkable clarity she unpicks the tangle of religious, political and economic conflicts that led to the Civil War… De Lisle draws on little-known and in some cases previously unrecorded letters to explore the important part that women played in Charles’s story… This is not a story of a weakling or a villain: it’s the tragedy of the right man in the wrong place in history – Andrew Taylor * The Times *De Lisle effortlessly carries the reader along with her as she recreates the tragedy of Charles I and the Civil War. Her book is beautifully constructed, telling the story chronologically with a nice eye for detail, illuminating each period and major character by vivid tableau, but with plenty of analysis… This is the most gripping piece of revisionist history I have read for a long time – Desmond Seward * Spectator *Elegantly written… the book proceeds at a cracking pace as the king’s tragedy unfolds… Leanda de Lisle’s splendid book is a timely reminder of the fascination of this turbulent period – Linda Porter * History Today *Excellent – clear, fair, sympathetic and detailed – Alan Massie * Wall Street Journal *

Leanda de Lisle is the highly acclaimed author of several bestselling and prize-winning books on the Tudors and Stuarts including Tudor- The Family Story, White King- The Tragedy of Charles I and Henrietta Maria- Conspirator, Warrior, Phoenix Queen. She writes and speaks on historical matters for TV, radio and publications including The Times, the Spectator and History Today.

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