Author: Helen Carr

England

Published on 2 April 2026 by Cornerstone (Penguin (Cornerstone)) in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 384 pages
129 x 197 x 27 | 280g

From the bestselling author Helen Carr, a thrilling new history of the fourteenth century – a time of catastrophe and conflict that shaped England for centuries to come.

***THE TOP TEN BESTSELLER***'A sparkling popular history which brings the Middle Ages' most terrible century to life for a new generation'Dan Jones'Tells the story of the 14th-century Plantagenets with verve'The Times'A highly engaging re-evaluation of a tumultuous century'ObserverThe death of Edward I in 1307 marked the beginning of a period of intense turmoil and change in England. The fourteenth century ushered in the beginning of the bloody Hundred Years’ War with France, an epic conflict with Scotland that would last into the sixteenth century, famine in Northern Europe and the largest human catastrophe in known history, the Black Death.

Through the epic drama of regicide, war, the prolonged spectre of bubonic plague, religious antagonism, revolt and the end of a royal dynasty, this book tells the story of the fourteenth century via the lives of Edward II, Edward III and Richard II – three very different monarchs, each with their own egos and ambitions, each with their own ideas about England and what it meant to wield power.

Alongside the lives of the last Plantagenets, it also uncovers lesser-known voices and untold stories to give a new portrait of a fractured monarchy, the birth of the struggle between Europeanism and nationalism, social rebellion and a global pandemic.

Sceptred Isle is a thrilling narrative account of a century of revolution, shifting power and great change – social, political and cultural – shedding new light on a pivotal period of English history and the people who lived it.

Praise for Sceptred Isle'A sweeping look at an era of upheaval, panic and change. Gripping, powerful history'Hallie Rubenhold'A cannily timed new history... [Sceptred Isle] tells the story of the 14th-century Plantagenets with verve'The Times'A highly engaging re-evaluation of a tumultuous century'Observer'Informative, anecdotal and entertaining... So many of the events of that tumultuous century find echoes today'Financial Times'Gripping... Carr is an eloquent guide to the human realities of a century that often has a hallucinatory quality: vivid, desperate and haunting in its glories and its terrors'Spectator'Fast-paced and thrilling... a remarkably evocative account of the high drama, excessive bloodshed and significant societal change during this tumultuous age... hugely enjoyable'Country Life'Excellent'Clive Anderson, Loose Ends (BBC Radio4)'In this vivid, finely researched book, Helen Carr takes us deep into England’s deadly fourteenth century and finds life and human colour. This is a sparkling popular history which brings the Middle Ages' most terrible century to life for a new generation'Dan Jones'Full of colour, with headlong energy, Sceptred Isle brings England’s calamitous fourteenth century to life vividly. While Fortune’s Wheel turns through cycles of famine, plague and war, Helen Carr’s engrossing narrative never loses sight of the complexity, and hope, of human experience'Helen Castor