After nearly two decades in Britain, Bill Bryson took the decision to move back to the USA. Before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire, he took one last trip around the UK, and in this book, he turns an affectionate but laconic eye on his adopted country.

To understand what Britain has become we need to know what it has been. The first volume in this history tells the story of Britain from the time of the earliest settlements, discovered in the Orkneys, to the death of Queen Elizabeth I. Each chapter focuses on a major theme.

Mr and Mrs Bennet live with their five daughters at Longbourn in Hertfordshire. Jane, the eldest, falls in love with Charles Bingley, a rich bachelor who takes a house nearby with his two sisters and friend Fitzwilliam Darcy. Darcy is attracted to the second daughter, Elizabeth.

This work is a compelling chronicle of the changes that transformed every strand and strata of British life, faith and thought from 1603 to 1776. It explores the forces that tore Britain apart during two centuries of dynamic change.

This work takes us from the mid-1770s when the country was intoxicated by a great surge of political energy through to the massive advances of technology and industrialisation during the Victoria era, and the burgeoning of the British Empire.

Emma is considered by many to be Austen's finest and most representative novel. The story of Emma Woodhouse's matchmaking, and her awakening to the true feelings of others as well as herself, is told with consummate wit and humour. This new edition contains lively notes and an introduction that explores how Austen transmutes the everyday into the revelatory.

A tragic tale of the rise and fall of Camelot seen through the eyes of Camelot's women: the devout Gwenhwyfar, Arthur's Queen; Vivane, High priestess of Avalon and the Lady of the Lake; above all, Morgaine, possessor of the sight, the wise, the wise-woman fated to bring ruin on them all.

A rejacketed reissue of the consistently bestselling satire upon textbook history.

A history book which aims to change the way we think about our past.

Traces the story of the realm from its supposed foundation by Brutus to the coming of the Saxons some two thousand years later. This title portrays legendary and semi-legendary figures such as Lear, Cymbeline, Merlin the magician and the most famous of all British heroes, King Arthur.

A terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward Estella; the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor - these form a series of events that change the orphaned Pip's life forever.

Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her behaviour leaves her open to gossip. Meanwhile, Elinor is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment.

Taken from the poverty of her parents' home, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank and with her cousin Edmund as her sole ally. When the Crawfords arrive in the neighbourhood, they bring the glamour of London life with them.

Recreates the excitement, brutality and adventure of the British Empire. This book is a major reinterpretation of the British Empire as one of the world's modernising forces. It shows how the British Empire in the 19th Century spearheaded real globalisation with steampower, telegraphs, guns, engineers, missionaries and millions of settlers.

In 54BC, Julius Caesar launched the first Roman invasion of Britain. His was the first detailed account of the Celtic tribes that inhabited the Isles. But where had they come from and how long had they been there? This work takes us on a journey around the family tree of Britain and Ireland, to reveal how our tribal history colours the country.

Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around the Coast of Great Britain .

In this title, readers can enter the dazzling world of 19th century magicians fighting Napoleon's advancing army - and fighting between themselves

Composed towards the end of the first millennium of our era, the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf is a Northern epic and a classic of European literature. In this new translation, Seamus Heaney has produced a work that is true, line by line, to the original poem.

During her first season at Bath, a young girl experiences the joys of fashionable society. When her sophisticated new aquaintances invite her to their father's mysterious house, she fabricates her own Gothic romance, imagining the crimes that have been committed there.