After spending an awful lot of 2024 chained to my desk, I’m pleased to say that I have three books due to be published in 2025, two non-fiction works and one novel. In March, the History Press will publish Lionessheart: The Life and Times of Joanna Plantagenet. As the title implies, this is about Joanna, the youngest daughter of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. She led a life that was just as exciting and adventurous as that of her brother, Richard the Lionheart, but her role in contemporary events has been inexplicably (or, alternatively, all too predictably …) overlooked. She was at various times a princess, a queen, a…

My next non-fiction book will be 1217: The Battles That Saved England, an analysis of the three pivotal engagements (a siege, a battle on land and a battle at sea) that saw off the attempted French invasion of England in the early thirteenth century. The cover design has been revealed, and doesn’t it look great? The book will be published in May 2024, and is now available for pre-order from the Osprey website.

I haven’t updated here for a while, so there’s plenty of news to share about several books that are at different stages. First, Two Houses, Two Kingdoms will be out in paperback on 11 July. Here’s the cover: Then, in September, volume 8 in my series of medieval murder mysteries, Blessed Are the Dead, will be published, in paperback and e-book: And there are several more books in the pipeline. I have recently delivered to Osprey the manuscript of 1217: The Battles That Saved England, a close examination of the pivotal engagements at Dover, Lincoln and Sandwich that stopped the French invasion of England in its tracks. This will be…

I’ve recently signed a contract with Osprey, the military history publisher, to write a book focusing on the battles and sieges that took place during the war of French invasion in England 1216-17. It’s tentatively entitled The Battles That Saved England, though that might change as we go on. I’m hugely excited by being able to go back to my roots as as historian of war and combat, and to go into great detail on matters such as armour, weapons, tactics and siege machinery, to say nothing of revisiting all my favourite contemporary chroniclers!

Seriously, how’s this for a spectacular design? Out in hardback on 12 July and available for pre-order now.