{"title":"A. N. Wilson","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA. N. Wilson\u003c\/strong\u003e is celebrated for his compelling biographies that bring historical figures vividly to life. His works offer a thoughtful exploration of the personalities and times of icons such as Prince Albert, Charles Dickens, and Queen Victoria, weaving rich detail with engaging narrative.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect a blend of meticulous research and literary flair, with each book presenting a nuanced portrait that goes beyond mere chronology. Wilson’s writing invites reflection on the complexities behind public lives, making history accessible and intriguing.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-mystery-of-charles-dickens-by-a-n-wilson-9781786497932","title":"The Mystery of Charles Dickens","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA Book of the Year in \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u0026amp; \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSpectator\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eIrish Times\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTLS\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Superb' \u003ci\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/i\u003e, 'Book of the Week'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Brilliant' \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e, 'Book of the Week'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'[A] vivid, detailed account' \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e, 'Book of the Week'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Hugely enjoyable' \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Fascinating' \u003ci\u003eSpectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCharles Dickens was a superb public performer, a great orator and one of the most famous of the Eminent Victorians. Slight of build, with a frenzied, hyper-energetic personality, Dickens looked much older than his fifty-eight years when he died. Although he specified an unpretentious funeral, it was inevitable that crowds flocked to his open grave in Westminster Abbey. Experiencing the worst and best of life during the Victorian Age, Dickens was not merely the conduit through whom some of the most beloved characters in literature came into the world. He was one of them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFilled with twists, pathos and unusual characters, \u003ci\u003eThe Mystery of Charles Dickens\u003c\/i\u003e looks back from the legendary writer's death to recall the key events in his life. In doing so, A. N. Wilson seeks to understand Dickens's creative genius and enduring popularity. Following him from cradle to grave, it becomes clear that Dickens's fiction drew from his own experiences - a fact he acknowledged. Like Oliver Twist, Dickens suffered a wretched childhood, then grew up to become not only a respectable gentleman but an artist of prodigious popularity. Dickens knew firsthand the poverty and pain his characters endured, including the scandal of a failed marriage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGoing beyond standard narrative biography, Wilson brilliantly revisits the wellspring of Dickens's vast and wild imagination, revealing why his novels have such instantaneous appeal and why they continue to resonate today. He also uncovers the double standards of both the man and his times.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46555481637100,"sku":"9781786497932","price":27.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/1508363482824.jpg?v=1750103518"},{"product_id":"victoria-by-a-n-wilson-9781848879584","title":"Victoria","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Queen Victoria died in 1901, she had ruled for nearly sixty-four years. She was mother of nine and grandmother of forty-two, and the matriarch of Royal Europe, through the marriages of her children.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTo many, Queen Victoria is a ruler shrouded in myth and mystique—an aging, stiff widow, paraded as the figurehead to an all-male imperial enterprise. But in truth, Britain's longest reigning monarch was one of the most passionate, expressive, humorous and unconventional women who ever lived, and the story of her life continues to fascinate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA. N. Wilson's exhaustively researched and definitive biography includes a wealth of new material from previously unseen sources, to show us Queen Victoria as she's never been seen before. It explores the curious set of circumstances that led to Victoria's coronation, her strange and isolated childhood, her passionate marriage, Prince Albert's pivotal influence, her widowhood and subsequent intimate friendship with John Brown, all set against the backdrop of this momentous epoch in Britain—and Europe's—history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eVictoria\u003c\/em\u003e is a towering achievement; a masterpiece of biography by a writer at the height of his powers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46556719743212,"sku":"9781848879584","price":34.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/7437503482846.jpg?v=1750166123"},{"product_id":"lilibet-the-girl-who-would-be-queen-by-an-wilson-9781786582423","title":"Lilibet: The Girl Who Would be Queen","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe moments in life of \"knowing\". On Bognor Beach, with Grandpa England, she had \"known\" that he, and Papa, and she, would carry something on, something given, something bigger than themselves.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLilibet: a carefree child, a lover of horses and dogs, devoted to her family. And the girl who would be Queen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA.N. Wilson, one of England's most beloved writers, imagines the Queen on the eve of her platinum jubilee. We watch as she discovers, at the tender age of ten, that she is heir to the throne. We witness her meet the dashing Prince Phillip of Greece, whom she loved steadfastly from the age of fifteen, and see their friendship blossom into passionate love. Above all, we learn of her astonishing sense of vocation and public duty, which grew during the dark years of WWII and her father's subsequent years of ill health.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBy turns funny, tender and tragic, \u003ci\u003eLilibet: The Girl Who Would be Queen\u003c\/i\u003e honours our beloved monarch and her illustrious reign.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46844418130156,"sku":"9781786582423","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/2353273482824.jpg?v=1758841278"},{"product_id":"prince-albert-by-a-n-wilson-9781782398332","title":"Prince Albert","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor more than six decades, Queen Victoria ruled a great Empire at the height of its power. Beside her for more than twenty of those years was the love of her life, her trusted husband and father of their nine children, Prince Albert. But while Victoria is seen as the embodiment of her time, it was Prince Albert, A. N. Wilson expertly argues, who was at the vanguard of Victorian Britain's transformation as a vibrant and extraordinary centre of political, technological, scientific, and intellectual advancement. Far more than just the product of his age, Albert was one of its influencers and architects. A composer, engineer, soldier, politician, linguist, and bibliophile, Prince Albert, more than any other royal, was truly a 'genius'.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlbert lived only forty-two years. Yet in that time, he fathered the royal dynasties of Germany, Russia, Spain, and Bulgaria. Through Victoria, Albert and her German advisers pioneered the idea of the modern constitutional monarchy. In this sweeping biography, Wilson demonstrates that there was hardly any aspect of British national life which Albert did not touch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDrawn from the Royal archives, including Prince Albert's voluminous correspondence, this brilliant and ambitious book offers fascinating never-before-known details about the man and his time. A superb match of biographer and subject, \u003ci\u003ePrince Albert\u003c\/i\u003e, at last, gives this important historical figure the reverence and recognition that is long overdue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46845546103020,"sku":"9781782398332","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/16683943482822.jpg?v=1758885495"},{"product_id":"the-king-and-the-christmas-tree-by-an-wilson-9781786580900","title":"The King and the Christmas Tree","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery year, a huge Norway spruce, twenty metres and more in height, is erected in Trafalgar Square. Many who see it must take it for granted, assuming it, like so many others, is merely marking the arrival of winter and Christmas festivities. The London tree, however, tells us the story of a very remarkable King, of the brave, indomitable people of Norway, and of the British people's fortitude during the Second World War.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRichly illustrated, \u003ci\u003eThe King and the Christmas Tree\u003c\/i\u003e is a warm Christmas fable of human courage and friendship between nations; a delightful Christmas cracker for all of us, young and old, at Christmastime.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46850315059436,"sku":"9781786580900","price":27.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/2338043482824.jpg?v=1759080966"},{"product_id":"confessions-by-a-n-wilson-9781472994820","title":"Confessions","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhen you combine the deepest learning and the highest readability with the most plumptious story-telling, the result is A. N. Wilson…\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003eStephen Fry\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eKnown for his journalism, biographies, and novels, A. N. Wilson turns a merciless searchlight on his own early life, his experience of sexual abuse, his catastrophic mistakes in love, and his life in Grub Street as a prolific writer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBefore he came to London, as one of the \"Best of Young British\" novelists and Literary Editor of the \u003cem\u003eSpectator\u003c\/em\u003e, we meet another A. N. Wilson. We meet his father, the Managing Director of Wedgwood, the grotesque teachers at his first boarding school, and the dons of Oxford—one of whom, at the age of just 20, he married, the renowned Shakespearean scholar, the late Katherine Duncan-Jones.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt every turn of this reminiscence, Wilson is baffled by his earlier self—whether flirting with unsuitable lovers or with the idea of the priesthood. His chapter on the High Camp seminary which he attended in Oxford is among the funniest in the book.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe follow his unsuccessful attempts to become an academic, his aspirations to be a Man of Letters, and his eventual encounters with the famous, including some memorable meetings with royalty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe princesses, dons, paedophiles, and journos who cross the pages are as sharply drawn as figures in his early comic fiction. But there is also a tenderness here, in his evocation of those whom he has loved, and hurt, the most.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47470320877804,"sku":"9781472994820","price":24.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781472994820-confessions.jpg?v=1775216286"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/a-n-wilson.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}