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Palaces of Revolution: Life, Death and Art at the Stuart Court

My latest book, Palaces of Revolution: Life, Death and Art at the Stuart Court won the 2023 Samuel Pepys Prize and is now available in paperback – available on Amazon and in bookshops. A sequel to my book Houses of Power: The places that shaped the Tudor World, this is a new history of the Stuart monarchy told through the palaces that they constructed and the art that they commissioned and acquired. "an important addition to knowledge not merely for historians of art and architecture but for all people interested in the Stuart period in general… a splendid achievement, which serves several different branches of history at once, as well as those who appreciate a clear and lively literary style." - Professor Ronald Hutton, Times Literary Supplement "A Hugely impressive, readable book… a huge accomplishment" - John Goodall, Country Life "Admirably readable… lively and authoritative… Simon Thurley probably knows more about palaces of the 16th and 17th century than anyone alive" - Andrew Taylor, The Times

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Houses of Power: The places that shaped the Tudor world

Houses of Power tells the architectural history of the Tudor monarchy. It brings together thirty years of writing, research, thinking and digging into the architecture and social life of the Tudor court. It turns a mass of my periodical literature and several of my previous books about royal houses into a completely fresh story about the Tudor court and its buildings. John Guy in the Literary Review calls it ‘a riveting account’; Christopher Howse in the Saturday Telegraph, ‘Immensely informative’, Dan Jones in the Mail on Sunday ‘Fresh, learned, readable and full of life’, while the Saturday times calls its beautiful design ‘suitably opulent’ and says my ‘enthusiasm steadily bubbles forth from Houses of Power’.

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