Restoration ─ The Year of the Great Fire

A close look at an England inhabited by Pepys, Evelyn, Dryden, Hobbes and the young Isaac Newton, with Charles II as king—a nation beginning to relax a little after the tough, joyless years of Cromwell's Protectorate

Restoration paints a fascinating portrait of a country in the throes of social, political and cultural change following the convulsions of the Interregnum. Exploring every level of English society, from innkeepers and upholsterers to lawyers and courtiers, and examining themes as diverse as marriage, sexuality and religion, he creates a pointilliste and multi-faceted portrait of Restoration England. By looking at the year 1666 through the eyes of the people of the time, by revealing what they ate and drank, how they loved, lived and died and how they interacted, Alex Larman brings alive the England of 300 years ago as you have never seen it before: exciting, tangible, and fully comprehensible.

Alexander Larman is a freelance journalist who has written for the TLS, the Guardian, and the New Statesman, the Spectator and the Observer.