Off The Bookshelf UK - Books The Verneys: A True Story of Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-century England The Verneys: A True Story of Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-century England New & Used The Verneys: A True Story of Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-century England

Search Books - select a category

Buy The Verneys: A True Story of Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-century England online at Discounted New and Used prices. Delivered to your door with Off-The-Bookshelf.

The Verneys: A True Story of Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-century England
by: Adrian Tinniswood

List Price: £25.00

Off The Bookshelf's Price: £18.99

You Save: £6.01 (24%)
Prices subject to change.

Used Price: £10.50
Third Party New Price: £13.59

Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780224072557
ISBN: 0224072552
Label: Jonathan Cape
Manufacturer: Jonathan Cape
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 500
Publication Date: March 01, 2007
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Studio: Jonathan Cape
Sales Rank: 194935

Related Items:

Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: or the Murder at Road Hill House: Or the Murder at Road Hill House

Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of a Great English Dynasty

Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and His Scandalous Duchess

The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street

Editorial Review:

The Guardian:
'Tinniswood gives a pungent sense of the wrangling and entangling of 17th-century life'

The Economist:
'Enormous flair and skill Mr Tinniswood uses...full of spectacular
rows and tearful makings-up'

The Telegraph:
'Enthralling... [Tinniswood] writes with an ease, a sympathy, a
simplicity...that makes this book extraordinary'

Literary Review:
'It combines scholarly enterprise and precision with the power of
imaginative re-creation'

Sunday Telegraph:
'By far the most historically assured, best told, and most
entertaining telling of the Verney saga.'

Independent on Sunday:
'This book hums with Tinniswood's infectious enthusiasm.'

Dian Purkiss, The Independent :
`The rich and vivid characters of the Verneys make history not only
painless but positively pleasurable. This is a welcome return to exactly
the kind of history that has always captivated the general reader'

Spectator, Review by Jonathan Sumption:
`an admirable work of scholarship, written with verve, style and
imagination'

The Sunday Times, Stella Tillyard:
`a compelling drama of marriage, death, madness, adventure and travel'

The Week:
Book of the Week

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Compelling history!
This is history at its best - it's readable, compelling and thoroughly enjoyable. Tinniswood's book achieves many goals in one - a fascinating social history, meticulous biography, powerful family saga, and not least it is a really good and engaging read.

The tale begins with Sir Francis Verney who ran away from his teenage wife in 1608, sold off much of the Verney property, converted to Islam and became one of the most feared pirates on the Barbary Coast. Carry on to read about Bess, who ran off with a clergyman; Cary, a heavy gambler, and Henry who was obsessed with horse racing; not to mention those involved in the English Civil War; Mall, who became pregnant out of marriage, or one of the later relatives who was hanged at Tyburn. ... Read More:

Rating:

- Stuart era soap opera
Adrian has taken the collected letters of the Verneys and turned them into a fascinating story of life in the Civil War and Restoration. The Verney family characters are all uniquely human with frailties and aspirations that are recognisable today, especially in how Sir Ralph Verney tries to maintain the family fortunes, have his sons shoulder responsibilities and marry well with large dowries. The women are not in the background and show how they rebel to the strictures placed on them by society.

Adrian's own views stay in the background except for some, for him, shocking revelations as to personal conduct. Its a surprisingly readable page turning insight into how an aristocratic family copes with being torn apart by the Civil War, ... Read More:

Books : The Verneys: A True Story of Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-century England