Choose Our Next Book Club Read

Cast your vote HERE!

While we still have one month left to go on our current Book Club read, Hild by Nicola Griffith, the time has come to choose what we will read next.

This time we will stay in the realm of non-fiction and, as always, stick to the early medieval period (c.410-1066).

The four books to choose from are:

• Storyland, Amy Jeffs (2021, 384 pages)

• The Private Lives of the Saints, Janina Ramirez (2015, 352 pages)

• The First Kingdom, Max Adams (2021, 480 pages)

• How England Began, Nicholas J. Higham (2026, 386 pages)

All you have to do to vote is enter your choice into the poll below, which will close in one week, on 4th June 2026. For those who want a little more information on each of the books, I’ve included the cover art and blurb for each below the poll.

Happy voting!

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Storyland, Amy Jeffs

Soaked in mist and old magic, Storyland is a new illustrated mythology of Britain, set in its wildest landscapes.

It begins between the Creation and Noah’s Flood, follows the footsteps of the earliest generation of giants from an age when the children of Cain and the progeny of fallen angels walked the earth, to the founding of Britain, England, Wales and Scotland, the birth of Christ, the wars between Britons, Saxons and Vikings, and closes with the arrival of the Normans.

These are retellings of medieval tales of legend, landscape and the yearning to belong, inhabited with characters now half-remembered. Told with narrative flair, embellished in stunning artworks and glossed with a rich and erudite commentary.

We visit beautiful, sacred places that include prehistoric monuments like Stonehenge, mountains such as Snowdon and rivers including the story-silted Thames in a vivid collection of tales of a land steeped in myth.

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The Private Lives of the Saints, Janina Ramirez

Skulduggery, power struggles and politics, The Private Lives of the Saints offers an original and fascinating re-examination of life in Anglo-Saxon England, as Oxford art historian and BBC presenter Dr Janina Ramirez explores the real lives of over a dozen seminal saints.

This landmark book provides a unique and captivating lens through which to explore the rich history of the Dark Ages.

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The First Kingdom, Max Adams

Somewhere between the departure of the Roman legions in the early fifth century and the arrival of Augustine’s Christian mission at the end of the sixth, the kingdoms of Early Medieval Britain were formed. But by whom? And out of what?

The First Kingdom is a skilfully wrought investigation of this mysterious epoch, synthesizing archaeological research carried out over the last forty years to tease out reality from the myth. Max Adams presents an image of post-Roman Britain whose resolution is high enough to show the emergence of distinct political structures in the sixth century - polities that survive long enough to be embedded in the medieval landscape, recorded in the lines of river, road and watershed, and memorialized in place names.

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How England Began, Nicholas J. Higham

In 410 CE, Roman rule of Britain collapsed, bringing a centuries-long occupation to an end. A hundred years later, Britain was splitting into two areas with contrasting cultures, a shrinking Celtic west and north, and an expansive ‘Anglo-Saxon’ south and east created by Germanic incomers. What drove this division? And why, when migrants landed in England, did their customs prevail over those of Rome - unlike anywhere else in the former empire?

In this deeply researched history, Nicholas J. Higham draws on archaeological evidence and contemporary literature, including the writings of sixth-century cleric Gildas, to challenge existing understandings. He highlights the importance of culture, warfare and language - as the arrival, spread and dominance of outsiders irrevocably changed the country. This period marked the beginnings not just of Englishness, but also of Welsh and Cornish identities.

Rich in inspiring new insights, Higham provides a fascinating account of how, as Roman Britain ended, Anglo-Saxon England emerged.