Books like Blue remembered hills a recollection by Rosemary Sutcliff

Roald Dahl’s humorous memoir of his early years, from birth through his time at an English boarding school and his first job at Royal Dutch Shell.

Aquila, a young Roman officer, chooses to stay in Britain and joins Roman‑British leader Ambrosius to defend the land against invading Saxon hordes.

In this candid memoir, Hilary Mantel reflects on her upbringing, family dynamics and struggles with illness, tracing how early loss and chronic pain shaped her life and literary career.

An autobiography of a young English woman who spent her formative years in India, recounting her marriage and the challenges of bringing up two children alone in poverty.

In her famous volume of autobiography, *Testament of Youth*, now an acclaimed BBC/PBS television serial, Vera Brittain passionately recorded the agonizing years of the First World War, lamenting the destruction of a generation which for her included those she most dearly loved - her lover, her brother, her closest friends. In *Testament of Friendship* she tells the story of the woman who helped her survive those tragic years - the writer Winifred Holtby. They met at Somerville College, Oxford, immediately after the war, and their friendship continued through Vera's marriage and their separate but parallel writing careers until Winifred's untimely death at the age of 37. *Testament of Friendship*, first published in 1940, records a perfect friendship between two women of courage and determination, a friendship that transformed their own lives and illuminated the world in which they lived. Winifred Holtby was a remarkable woman. In her short life she contributed greatly to the twin causes of pacifism and feminism. Her fame as a novelist reached its peak with the posthumous publication of *South Riding*.

Set in 600 AD northern Britain, *The Shining Company* follows Prosper as he joins a 300‑strong band of rival royal sons fighting the Saxons in the historic Battle of Catterick.

Orphaned children in the New Forest, disguised as grandchildren of a poor forester, face the challenge of survival during the Civil War era.