The Verneys

Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-Century England

Adrian Tinniswood

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English

Pimlico
15 April 2008

Biography: historical, political & military; History; British & Irish history; Early modern history: c 1450 to c 1700; Family history, tracing ancestors

The extraordinary story of one English family in the seventeenth century- narrative social history at its best.

Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.

Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.

In this extraordinary saga, Adrian Tinniswood draws on tens of thousands of letters, which survived by chance in an attic, to reveal the remarkable world of the Verneys, a family of Buckinghamshire gentry in the seventeenth century.

Here is Edmund Verney, Charles I's standard bearer at Edgehill, who died still clutching the King's standard, and his children- Ralph, whose support of the Parliamentarian cause during the Civil War forced him into exile; Mun, a professional soldier who survived Cromwell's attack on Drogheda in 1649, only to be stabbed to death two days later; Mall, who fell pregnant out of wedlock, and Bess, who ran off with a clergyman. There was also Henry, who was obsessed with horse-racing; Cary, who gambled away a fortune, and Tom, a devout Christian and a petty crook.

The next generation led equally exciting lives. Ralph's son Jack went to Syria and made a fortune. Cousin Pen stayed at home and slept with her sister's fiance. Cousin Dick was hanged at Tyburn. Jack's brother Edmund married a girl who was rich, beautiful and deeply in love with him and within months of the marriage, she lost her mind.

The Verneys is narrative history at its very best - fascinating, surprising, enthralling.

By: Adrian Tinniswood
Imprint: Pimlico
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 37mm
Weight: 415g
ISBN: 9781844134144
ISBN 10: 1844134148
Pages: 592
Publication Date: 15 April 2008
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Adrian Tinniswood is a historian and educationalist. He lectures regularly in Britain and the US, and was for many years consultant to the National Trust on heritage education. He is the author of eleven books of social and architectural history including His Invention So Fertile, his acclaimed biography of Sir Christopher Wren. His most recent book was By Permission of Heaven: The Story of the Great Fire of London.

Reviews for The Verneys: Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-Century England

A wonderfully immediate, intimate portrait of an age * Scotsman * Much more than a powerful family saga, full of spectacular rows and tearful makings-up, joyful births and tragic early deaths... A model for how biography and social history can be made to work magnificently together * Financial Times * A fascinating and engrossing tale * Sunday Telegraph * A compelling drama of marriage, death, madness and adventure -- Stella Tillyard * Sunday Times * A marvellous history. Intimate and compelling, it's an exciting tale of adventure on the high seas and a family torn apart by civil war * Daily Mail *