Got some time on your hands? Stuck inside? Why not catch up on some Tudor history with one of my favorite Tudor books?! Fiction, and non fiction included, so you’ll definitely find something you love!
The King at the Edge of the World originally caught my eye because I was searching through Audible finding titles by my favorite narrator, Euan Morton. Then when I saw what it was about, it was a no brainer to get it.
The year is 1601. Queen Elizabeth I is dying, childless. Her nervous kingdom has no heir. It is a capital crime even to think that Elizabeth will ever die. Potential successors secretly maneuver to be in position when the inevitable occurs. The leading candidate is King James VI of Scotland, but there is a problem.
The queen’s spymasters—hardened veterans of a long war on terror and religious extremism—fear that James is not what he appears. He has every reason to claim to be a Protestant, but if he secretly shares his family’s Catholicism, then forty years of religious war will have been for nothing, and a bloodbath will ensue. With time running out, London confronts a seemingly impossible question: What does James truly believe?
Buy it on Amazon now!
The second book I’m recommending in your Tudor Quarantine Reading List is The King’s Witch, an historical fiction book by Tracy Borman. Also dealing with the early reign of James I, this is the first book in the Frances Gorges trilogy. The second book, The Devil’s Slave is also really good too!
In March of 1603, as she helps to nurse the dying Queen Elizabeth of England, Frances Gorges dreams of her parents’ country estate, where she has learned to use flowers and herbs to become a much-loved healer. She is happy to stay at home when King James of Scotland succeeds to the throne. His court may be shockingly decadent, but his intolerant Puritanism sees witchcraft in many of the old customs—punishable by death.
Buy The King’s Witch on Amazon now!
Joanna Hickson is a prolific writer, and her Tudor stories are always a delight. The Lady of the Ravens is about the early Tudor period, Elizabeth of York.
Elizabeth of York, her life already tainted by dishonour and tragedy, now queen to the first Tudor king, Henry the VII.
Joan Vaux, servant of the court, straining against marriage and motherhood and privy to the deepest and darkest secrets of her queen. Like the ravens, Joan must use her eyes and her senses, as conspiracy whispers through the dark corridors of the Tower.
Through Joan’s eyes, The Lady of the Ravens inhabits the squalid streets of Tudor London, the imposing walls of its most fearsome fortress and the glamorous court of a kingdom in crisis.
Buy The Lady of the Ravens on Amazon now!
Amy Licence writes wonderful books about Tudor Women, and her new biography of Anne Boleyn doesn’t disappoint. In a world where biographies of Anne are regularly released, this new biography offers some fresh insight into Anne’s personality.
Anne Boleyn’s unconventional beauty inspired poets ‒ and she so entranced Henry VIII with her wit, allure and style that he was prepared to set aside his wife of over twenty years and risk his immortal soul. Her sister had already been the king’s mistress, but the other Boleyn girl followed a different path. For years the lovers waited; did they really remain chaste? Did Anne love Henry, or was she a calculating femme fatale?
Eventually replacing the long-suffering Catherine of Aragon, Anne enjoyed a magnificent coronation and gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth, but her triumph was short-lived. Why did she go from beloved consort to adulteress and traitor within a matter of weeks? What role did Thomas Cromwell and Jane Seymour of Wolf Hall play in Anne’s demise? Was her fall one of the biggest sex scandals of her era, or the result of a political coup?
Buy Anne Boleyn: Adultery, Heresy, Desire on Amazon now!
I absolutely love Alison Sim’s books where she so clearly and beautifully describes everyday life for our Tudor friends. I often use her books in my podcast research, and I love how she evokes life from the Tudor period. Pleasures and Pastimes in Tudor England is one of my favorites of hers. The other is Food and Feast in Tudor England.
How did the Tudors enjoy themselves? For the men and women of Tudor England, there was, just as there is today, more to life than work. Four hundred years before the invention of television and radio, they did not lead a boring or mundane life. Indeed, in many ways the richness of Tudor entertainment shames us. While continuing the medieval tradition of tournament and pagentry, the Tudors also increasingly read and attended the theatre. Dancing and music were also popular, and were considered just as important as hunting and fighting for an ambitious Tudor’s social skills. Church festivals provided the perfect excuse for revelry, and weddings and christenings were, as they are today, great social occasions. Here, Alison Sim explores the full range of entertainments enjoyed at this time, covering everything from card games and bear-baiting to interior design. The book should appeal to anyone interested in this rich period of history.
Buy Pleasures and Pastimes in Tudor England on Amazon now!
I would be remiss in not recommending this year’s most hotly anticipated Tudor history book, the final in the Wolf Hall series from Hilary Mantel. Of course, we know how things will end for Cromwell, but Mantel’s wonderful prose will take us into the rooms, and give us a chance to experience his downfall as if we’re really there.
With The Mirror & the Light, Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with her peerless, Booker Prize-winning novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of power, offering a defining portrait of predator and prey, of a ferocious contest between present and past, between royal will and a common man’s vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflict, passion and courage.
Buy The Mirror and the Light on Amazon now!
Or get Wolf Hall or Bring up the Bodies as well.
If you love a good Tudor mystery (and seriously, who doesn’t?) S.J. Parris is a must-read. I first found this author after looking for something to fill the void in between Matthew Shardlake books, and this didn’t disappoint!
Masterfully blending true events with fiction, this blockbuster historical thriller delivers a page-turning murder mystery set on the sixteenth-century Oxford University campus.Giordano Bruno was a monk, poet, scientist, and magician on the run from the Roman Inquisition on charges of heresy for his belief that the Earth orbits the sun and that the universe is infinite. This alone could have got him burned at the stake, but he was also a student of occult philosophies and magic. In S. J. Parris’s gripping novel, Bruno’s pursuit of this rare knowledge brings him to London, where he is unexpectedly recruited by Queen Elizabeth I and is sent undercover to Oxford University on the pretext of a royal visitation. Officially Bruno is to take part in a debate on the Copernican theory of the universe; unofficially, he is to find out whatever he can about a Catholic plot to overthrow the queen.
Buy Heresy by S.J. Parris on Amazon now
So, what Tudor books would you add to this list? What have you recently discovered? Old standby’s you keep coming back to? Leave a comment, and let me know so I can add them to the list!
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.