A thrilling political history about the months that brought England to the cusp of civil war, from the acclaimed author of The Blazing World

A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: THE TIMES/SUNDAY TIMES, TELEGRAPH AND HISTORY TODAY

A nation on the cusp of war. A king ousted from his capital by the people. A society on the brink of collapse. From Jonathan Healey comes a thrilling history about the months that sent England into civil war

‘An old-fashioned Westminster thriller . . . You could hardly find a more engrossing or exciting story’ DOMINIC SANDBROOK, SUNDAY TIMES

‘A rollicking history, packed with fire and excitement *****’ DANIEL BROOKS, TELEGRAPH

‘The House of Cards-ish drama remains gripping to the last’ LITERARY REVIEW

After years of tension between a king and his people, in 1641 England reaches a semblance of peace. Armies have disbanded, legislation has passed to ensure Parliament will continue to sit, and the people are tentatively optimistic. Radical politicians congratulate themselves on a stunning political victory. Royal servants are coming to accept an altered future.

Then comes winter. With it, chaos, protests, political deadlock, and eventually a remarkable attempt by King Charles I to destroy his opponents. On 4 January 1642 Charles marches on the small riverside city of Westminster at the head of an army, seeking to arrest five Members of Parliament. In doing so, he sets in motion a series of events that will lead to bloodshed and war, changing a nation forever.

Why did the English Civil War break out? The Blood in Winter tells the story of an English people's great political awakening, and of a nation that splintered into bloodshed at a terrifying speed. Jonathan Healey recreates the claustrophobic atmosphere of the day, with rowdy protestors in the streets and London blanketed in coal smoke. It is a story of remarkable but flawed characters, all faced with unpalatable choices, and a frightening picture of a society in profound distress.

"Jonathan Healey’s brilliant narrative history, sees a spry cast of characters navigate the uncertain lead-up to war . . . Energetic and exceptional . . . Takes us beyond the disputes in Westminster . . . A book that bursts with character, a vivid reconstruction of England on the brink . . . It's a pleasure to read Healey’s stylish and fluid prose . . . A rollicking history, packed with fire and excitement" - Telegraph

"A lucid, fast-paced and exhilarating account of how, if not necessarily why, England descended into civil war . . . Vivid details brighten almost every page . . . There is hardly a paragraph not enlivened by his eye for the mannerisms, quirks and eccentricities of the actors in his story . . . Highly accomplished and impressively accessible . . . Its pages teem with larger-than-life personalities and dramatic incident . . . The House of Cards-ish drama remains gripping to the last" - Literary Review

"This superb narrative history adds a rich cast of supporting characters, from Clerkenwell prostitutes to fire-and-brimstone preachers" - Telegraph, Books of the Year

"Gripping . . . A galloping narrative . . . Healey deftly joins the dots between several points of no return. He writes briskly and accessibly, even to the point of tabloid snappiness . . . Discreetly, and persuasively, merges different currents in civil war history . . . Healey makes these elite manoeuvres lucid, lively, even suspenseful . . . Gives us gripping history from below as well as from above" - Financial Times

"A forensically detailed, unputdownable account of the bleak winter of 1642, as England tumbled into war. It was dark, messy and complicated but Healey, always with an eye for the everyday and the quirky, tells a thoroughly human story of this most cataclysmic event" - History Today, Books of the Year

"Netflix should make this enjoyable English civil war history into an epic drama . . . An old-fashioned Westminster thriller, meticulously following the relationship between the proud, prickly Charles and his parliamentary critics . . . Creates a sense of atmosphere from the confusing, claustrophobic warren of the Palace of Westminster to the reeking streets of the City of London" - Sunday Times

"Gives a relatively familiar narrative startling freshness . . . A fine, engaging and judicious book" - Spectator

"A detailed, richly atmospheric narrative . . . Healey is excellent at explaining the thorny political and religious issues at stake, but also has a nice eye for local colour: the filth and stench in the streets, the baroque obscenities with which fishwives taunted their neighbours" - The Times/Sunday Times, Books of the Year

"Such detailed coverage, with the chronology whittled down to months, days, hours and, ultimately, minutes, rests upon the wealth of contemporary accounts that Healey draws upon . . . The Blood in Winter unfolds against an atmospheric reconstruction of Stuart society. In particular, Healey succeeds in evoking the sights, sounds and smells of the palaces, taverns and backstreets of London" - Wall Street Journal

"Rollicking history, told with verve and great atmosphere by the Oxford historian, which explores the many causes of the English Civil War" - New Zealand Herald, Books of the Year

"Capacious and chatty . . . Healey peoples these debates with a vast and vividly drawn cast of characters . . . Wisely escapes the deadening simplifications of hindsight, which turn accidents into inevitabilities and potential futures into obvious dead ends . . . Gives room to a snarling lot of lesser-known figures . . . A bustling narrative" - New York Times

"A really lucid, exciting chronicle of a country that fell apart, full of echoes for now and really worth reading" - Politics Weekly

"A master stroke. Scholarly but absorbing … Healey is part of a new wave of historical writing that seeks to bring a literary sensibility to the business of assembling a narrative … Unapologetically humorous … This is not just one more book about England’s ill-fated road to revolution, but a triumph of scholarly empathy and perspectival balance that should not go unread" - Open Letters Review

"An urgent, volatile narrative centred on London in 1641–42, where Westminster’s rituals collide with a noisy, politicised city thick with rumour and menace, and where the deteriorating relationship between Charles I and Parliament is traced with forensic care, capturing how hardened positions, mutual distrust and inflamed language can swiftly turn disagreement into disaster" - Engelsberg Ideas