This month we’re giving away a bundle of new historical fiction and non-fiction from Orion Books. One lucky history fan will win FIVE new books, including latest releases from Christian Cameron and Simon Turney.
Just follow the instructions below to enter. You’ve got four chances to win:
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This giveaway is open to UK entries only.
About the books
Everyone knows his name. Everyone thinks they know his story.
Rome 37AD. The emperor is dying. No-one knows how long he has left. The power struggle has begun.
When the ailing Tiberius thrusts Caligula’s family into the imperial succession in a bid to restore order, he will change the fate of the empire and create one of history’s most infamous tyrants, Caligula.
But was Caligula really a monster?
Forget everything you think you know. Let Livilla, Caligula’s youngest sister and confidante, tell you what really happened. How her quiet, caring brother became the most powerful man on earth.
And how, with lies, murder and betrayal, Rome was changed for ever . . .
From the author of the No. 1 bestseller Wedlock, the story of two pioneering men of science, and a nation in thrall to mesmerism…
Medicine, in the early 1800s, was a brutal business. Operations were performed without anaesthesia while conventional treatment relied on leeches, cupping and toxic potions. The most surgeons could offer by way of pain relief was a large swig of brandy.
Onto this scene came John Elliotson, the dazzling new hope of the medical world. Charismatic and ambitious, Elliotson was determined to transform medicine from a hodge-podge of archaic remedies into a practice informed by the latest science. In this aim he was backed by Thomas Wakley, founder of the new magazine, theLancet, and a campaigner against corruption and malpractice.
Then, in the summer of 1837, a French visitor – the self-styled Baron Jules Denis Dupotet – arrived in London to promote an exotic new idea: mesmerism. The mesmerism mania would take the nation by storm but would ultimately split the two friends, and the medical world, asunder – throwing into focus fundamental questions about the fine line between medicine and quackery, between science and superstition.
Terracotta Warriors, Edward Burman
Terracotta Warriors provides an intriguing, original and up-to-date account of one of the wonders of the ancient world. Illustrated with a wealth of original photographs, this is the first book available for the general reader which incorporates the most recent excavations, new theories and discoveries.
In one of the most astounding archaeological discoveries of all time, the Terracotta Warriors were discovered by chance by farmers in 1974. We now understand that the excavated pits containing nearly eight thousand warriors and hundreds of horses are only part of a much grander mausoleum complex. There is a great deal still to be discovered and understood about the entire area whichis now thought to cover around 100 square kilometres. And there is the tantalising possibility of the opening of the imperial tomb.
With unique access to the leading Chinese archaeologists and historians – including the full support of the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, responsible for all archaeological sites and museums in the province – Burman is able to guide us through the ancient Chinese concept of longevity and the afterlife, essential to an understanding of the mausoleum. We can see as never before how the Terracotta Warriors strongly represent the fascinating circumstances in which they lived.
Daughters of the Winter Queen, Nancy Goldstone
The extraordinary story of a seventeenth-century queen who lost her throne, and her four defiant daughters.
In a sweeping narrative encompassing political intrigue, illicit love affairs and even a murder mystery, Nancy Goldstone tells the riveting story of a queen who lost her throne, and of her four defiant daughters.
Elizabeth Stuart’s marriage to a German count far below her rank was arranged with the understanding that her father, James I of England, would help his new son-in-law achieve the crown of Bohemia. The terrible betrayal of this promise would ruin ‘the Winter Queen’, as Elizabeth would forever be known, imperil the lives of those she loved and launch a war that would last thirty years.
Forced into exile, the Winter Queen found refuge for her growing family in Holland, where the glorious art and culture of the Dutch Golden Age formed the backdrop to her daughters’ education. The eldest, Princess Elizabeth, counted the philosopher René Descartes as her closest friend. Louisa, whose lively manner would provoke heartache and scandal, was a gifted artist. Henrietta Maria, the beauty of the family, would achieve the dynastic ambition of marrying into royalty, although at great cost. But it was the youngest, Sophia, a heroine in the tradition of Jane Austen, with a ready wit and strength of character, who would fulfil the promise of her great-grandmother Mary, Queen of Scots, a legacy which endures to this day.
The Green Count, Christian Cameron
Famagusta, November 1365. The world teeters on the brink of bloody political upheaval . . . and Sir William Gold is caught right in the thick of it.
After the bloody trials of Alexandria, Sir William Gold is readying for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to ease the burden on his soul. He hopes, too, that the Holy City might allow his relationship with Emile, cousin of the Green Count of Savoy, to develop.
But the Roman Emperor of Constantinople has been taken hostage by an unknown enemy, and the Green Count is vital to the rescue effort. It is up to Sir William to secure his support, but he soon finds that his past, and his relationship with Emile, might have repercussions he had not foreseen…
Suddenly thrust onto the stage of international politics, Sir William finds himself tangled in a web of plots, intrigue and murder. He must hold true to his chivalric principles, and to his knights, if he is to save the Emperor and survive to tell the tale.
Our thanks to Orion Books for supplying this fantastic prize!
