England Inspired

Typically my annual book recommendations include at least one book, fiction or non, from American history. Not this year. My favorite reading this year was firmly set in England. Let's take a look at two books that, in 2025,  pulled me in and did not let go.

Blood and Roses: One Family's Struggle and Triumph During the Tumultuous Wars of the Roses - Helen Castor

"Paston Village, Norfolk. November 2004. A cold wind, heavy with salt, drags across the churchyard. The sea, less than a mile away, is invisible over the gentle rise of open fields, but its presence can be felt everywhere, in the vastness of the sky and the closeness of the wide horizon. Here, England's eastern coastline is austere even in summer. In winter, it has a bleak grandeur, the shore bellying out into the slate-grey water that stretches four hundred miles northward, to the coast of Scandinavia. Across the North Sea, more than a thousand years ago, came the North Men, Viking warriors in their dragon-headed longships, to raid and plunder and, in time, to settle on the rich Norfolk soil. Now, though, both sea and land are quiet." [Excerpt from Blood and Roses, by Helen Castor]

Sure, this quote from the first page describes a modern experience, but it set the scene so beautifully, I really did feel pulled right into the pages of the book. And Castor kept me there through five generations of Paston family history.

In the years following the Black Death, an event that killed as much as half of Europe's population, England struggled to settle itself during a time of significant social mobility. The Paston family were at times both winners and losers in the shifting landscape. Castor digs deep into Paston family letters and legals, bringing to life their everyday experience as they navigated the political machinations around the Wars of the Roses. I particularly enjoyed getting to know Agnes and Margaret Paston, tough women who may not always be likeable but sure as hell got stuff done under some particularly unique hardship. 

Castor's excellent storytelling does not end with the Paston family's history. She also weaves a captivating tale about the life of the Paston letters, how they were lost and rediscovered, and subsequently preserved. 

Cecily: Wife. Mother. Politician. Traitor. FIghter. Survivor. - Annie Garthwaite

"They've learned each other's bodies here in France, as they've learned each other's minds, and find they are attuned. Cecily has discovered that, in loving, as in everything, boldness is rewarded. When Richard shakes beneath her hands and cannot speak but only reach for her; when he is buried in her and senseless with it, her heart exults and, in tenderness then, she draws him close, holds him till he calms. He tells her she has spelled him with love. She stretches her body beneath him, moonlit and pale, and says she has no need of witchcraft." [Excerpt from Cecily, by Annie Garthwaite]

Now that is a good sex scene. But this book is not historical romance. 

Annie Garthwaite has described Cecily Neville as "a woman who knew how to operate in a man's world." At a time when women had a reasonable amount of autonomy, Cecily stepped up to use her power in all the ways she thought best for the rise and reign of her family. Garthwaite gives us a Cecily who at times is smart, strategic, and cunning. She can be sexy, dutiful, and loving (in her particular way.) She often makes morally questionable choices all in support of her family's ambitions. Cecily is the story of a woman who not only lived through tumultuous times, but actively shaped significant political outcomes. 

I first learned about Garthwaite and her writing through The Tudor's Dynasty Podcast and had put both Cecily and The King's Mother on my TBR. Cecily vaulted to the top of the list when I had the opportunity to participate in a writing workshop led by Garthwaite. I really appreciate the pacing of this novel, both the story and text. 

Following is a full list of the reading I did in 2025, and honestly, there were a lot of hits this year. I recommend finding these books at your local libraries, independent books stores, or Bookshop.org if you can. If a big box bookseller is the right option for you, then go for it. Let's enjoy some good reading however we can and fight for a better bookselling landscape as we go.

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History:

Independence: Women and the Patriarchal State in Revolutionary America - Jacqueline Beatty

Blood and Roses: One Family's Struggle and Triumph During the Tumultuous War of the Roses - Helen Castor

Inn Civility: Urban Taverns and Early American Civil Society - Vaughn Scribner

Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant - Tracy Borman

Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of the Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era - Arthur Pierce Middleton

The Wide, Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook - Hampton Sides

Defiant Brides: The Untold Story of Two Revolutionary-Era Women and the Radical Men They Married - Nancy Rubin Stuart

Poor Richard's Women: Deborah Read Franklin and the Other Women Behind the Founding Father - Nancy Rubin Stuart

From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain 1765 - 1776 - Pauline Maier

The Red Prince: John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster - Helen Carr

Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia - Carson O. Hudson, Jr.

The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England - Carol F. Karlsen

Unfreedom: Slavery and Dependence in 18th Century Boston - Jared Ross Hardesty

Historical Fiction:

The Woman in the Wallpaper - Lora Jones

Cecily: Wife. Mother. Politician. Traitor. Fighter. Survivor. - Annie Garthwaite

The Hearth and the Eagle - Anya Seton

The Irish Princess - Elizabeth Chadwick

The Women - Kristin Hannah

The Innocent - Posie Graeme-Evans (Good sex in this one.)

Benjamin Franklin's Bastard: A Father, a Son, and the Women Who Loved Them - Sally Cabot

The Rose of York: Love and War - Sandra Worth

The Rebellion of Jane Clarke - Sally Gunning

Narrative Science:

Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell - Sy Montgomery

Uncategorized:

Assassin's Apprentice: Book One of the Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb

Jaws - Peter Benchley

The Castle of Otranto - Horace Walpole

Paganism for Beginners: The Complete Guide to Nature-Based Spirituality for Every New Seeker - Althaea Sebastiani

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