{"title":"Gareth Russell","description":"\u003cp\u003eGareth Russell's works offer a vivid journey through history and the intimate lives of its key figures. His storytelling blends meticulous research with engaging narrative, bringing moments from the past to life with clarity and depth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect richly detailed biographies and historical accounts that explore the complexities of power, personality, and society. Whether delving into royal intrigues or wartime experiences, Russell's writing provides both insight and accessibility.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"do-lets-have-another-drink-by-gareth-russell-9780008542658","title":"Do Let’s Have Another Drink","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Times Best Book on the Royal Family of the Year 2022\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis is a biography of the Queen Mother with all the dull bits stripped out.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhen told that Lady Mountbatten was being buried at sea, the Queen Mother replied cheerfully. ‘Dear old Edwina, she always did like to make a splash!’\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDuring her lifetime, the Queen Mother was as famous for her clever quips, pointed observations and dry-as-a-Martini delivery style as she was for being a member of the Royal Family. She was also famed for her fondness for ‘drinky-poos’ – usually a gin and Dubonnet or three. Now, \u003cem\u003eDo Let’s Have Another Drink\u003c\/em\u003e recounts 101 biographical vignettes – one for each year of her long, remarkable life, including her coming-of-age during World War I, the abdication of her brother-in-law, the truth about her tragic nieces and her relationship with her two daughters over half a century of widowhood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe book is a skimming-stone biography – the story of a life without the boring bits – and a travel guide to a world that no longer exists. Stepping into the Queen Mother’s rarefied universe is a little like falling through the looking glass. The book rightly celebrates her sense of humour but also explores her enmities and feuds, including the truth about her behaviour towards Wallis Simpson, Nerissa Bowes-Lyon and Diana, Princess of Wales.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor fans of \u003cem\u003eThe Crown\u003c\/em\u003e and featuring new revelations, never before published, and colourful anecdotes about the woman the high society photographer Cecil Beaton once described as ‘a marshmallow made on a welding machine’, \u003cem\u003eDo Let’s Have Another Drink\u003c\/em\u003e is a delightful celebration of one of the most consistently popular members of the Royal Family.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46438945358060,"sku":"9780008542658","price":26.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/260693482191.jpg?v=1747203721"},{"product_id":"queen-james-by-gareth-russell-9780008660857","title":"Queen James","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'James comes alive in full flamboyance … Russell expertly weaves the bedchamber gossip into the tapestry of a tumultuous reign' \u003cem\u003eSUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Brings the backbiting and power struggles of the Jacobean court to life with wit and vigour' \u003cem\u003eOBSERVER\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘A warts and all story told with compassion’ PHILIPPA GREGORY\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e_______________________________\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e‘Elizabeth was king,\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eThen James was queen.’ – English author (1603)\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJames Stuart, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland did not always love wisely, but he never failed to do so boldly.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHe fell in love three times – with a Scottish lord, a knight and George Villiers, ‘the handsomest man in the whole world’. He was infatuated three more times – with a Highland earl, a Welsh lord and an English spy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe know so much about the six wives of Henry VIII, why not the six loves of James I?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis groundbreaking new book puts James – genius, liar, spendthrift, idealist, witch-hunter – and the men he loved at the centre of one of the most dramatic stories in British royal history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBeginning with the brutal and mysterious murder of his father in 1567, James’s life encompassed kidnapping, witchcraft trials, torture, his mother’s beheading, poison, political radicalism, religious fundamentalism, a queen’s alleged abortion, passionate sex, strong love, stronger hate, espionage, brothels, and a decade-long love affair that ended in assassination.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is unquestionably one of the most gripping stories in British history, retold in Gareth Russell’s \u003cem\u003eQueen James\u003c\/em\u003e with scholarship, biographical insight and wit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e________________________________\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Books like this don't come along very often. Told with Gareth Russell's characteristic verve and exquisite eye for detail, it is a story so compelling and surprising that it feels as if it has been hiding in plain sight for 400 years. A stunning achievement and a must for history fans everywhere' TRACY BORMAN\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46439160807660,"sku":"9780008660857","price":45.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780008660857.jpg?v=1747212961"},{"product_id":"young-and-damned-and-fair-by-gareth-russell-9780008128289","title":"Young and Damned and Fair","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2017\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBorn into nobility and married into the royal family, Catherine Howard was attended every waking hour – secrets were impossible to keep. In this thrilling reappraisal of Henry VIII’s fifth wife, Gareth Russell’s history unfurls as if in real time to explain how the queen’s career ended with one of the great scandals of Henry’s reign.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a grand tale of the Henrician court in its twilight, a glittering but pernicious sunset during which the king’s unstable behaviour and his courtiers’ labyrinthine deceptions proved fatal to many, not just to Catherine Howard.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46512319070444,"sku":"9780008128289","price":26.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/24202793482190.jpg?v=1748844582"},{"product_id":"the-palace-by-gareth-russell-9780008437015","title":"The Palace","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'If a house could gossip, this is the book that Hampton Court would whisper. An enjoyable and readable stroll through 500 years of Hampton Court history: royal residents, common visitors, thieves, invaders and ghosts’ PHILIPPA GREGORY\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFor centuries, Hampton Court has been a place of power, scandal and intrigue: a stage for events that shaped the nation. \u003cem\u003eThe Palace\u003c\/em\u003e raises the curtain on 500 years of British history with royals, politicians, criminals, and geniuses all playing their parts.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHampton Court has been an arc of monarchy, revolution, religious fundamentalism, sexual scandals, and military coups. In this rich and vivid history, Gareth Russell moves through the rooms and the decades, each time focusing on a different person who called Hampton Court their home.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBeginning with the Tudors, Russell takes the reader from the kitchens of Henry VII and the dreams of Anne Boleyn to Elizabeth I’s brush with death and the staging of Shakespeare’s plays. To the commissioning of the King James Bible, the republican victories of Oliver Cromwell, the many mistresses of Charles II and their laxative-laced attempts to embarrass one another. The gossip and feuds of Georgian aristocrats lead into the era of the Windsors when Hampton Court becomes the place to host Elizabeth II’s coronation ball and hide the last Tsar’s sister.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFascinating and engaging, \u003cem\u003eThe Palace\u003c\/em\u003e is as atmospheric as it is gossipy and through the many sovereigns and servants that lived and worked in its halls reveals the personal tragedy and political importance of this extraordinary place.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46555663401196,"sku":"9780008437015","price":27.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/27290053482190.jpg?v=1750107752"},{"product_id":"the-palace-by-gareth-russell-9780008436988","title":"The Palace","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'If a house could gossip, this is the book that Hampton Court would whisper. An enjoyable and readable stroll through 500 years of Hampton Court history: royal residents, common visitors, thieves, invaders and ghosts’ PHILIPPA GREGORY\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFor centuries, Hampton Court has been a place of power, scandal and intrigue: a stage for events that shaped the nation. \u003cem\u003eThe Palace\u003c\/em\u003e raises the curtain on 500 years of British history with royals, politicians, criminals, and geniuses all playing their parts.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHampton Court has been an arc of monarchy, revolution, religious fundamentalism, sexual scandals, and military coups. 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In this brilliantly original history, Gareth Russell recasts a tragedy we think we know to explore an era of seismic change.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith new research and previously unseen first-hand accounts, Gareth Russell peers through the most famous portholes in the world to follow six travellers. Amongst them, a Jewish-American immigrant, an American movie star, a member of the British nobility, and a titan of industry. Setting these lives against that of the \u003cem\u003eTitanic\u003c\/em\u003e, Russell investigates social class, technological advancement, political turmoil and pioneering ambition in an age that swung between folly and brilliance, hubris and triumph.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA dramatic history of human endeavour told through extraordinary, diverse personalities, \u003cem\u003eThe Ship of Dreams\u003c\/em\u003e dispels myth to revive the story of a ship that was to become symbolic of its own doomed era.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePreviously published as \u003cem\u003eThe Darksome Bounds of a Failing World\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Arotahi Agency","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46850383347948,"sku":"9780008263201","price":27.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/25551913482190.jpg?v=1759086504"},{"product_id":"queen-james-by-gareth-russell-9780008660895","title":"Queen James","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA BBC History magazine, Esquire, Historia magazine and Waterstones History Book of the Year\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'James comes alive in full flamboyance … Russell expertly weaves the bedchamber gossip into the tapestry of a tumultuous reign' \u003cem\u003eSUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Brings the backbiting and power struggles of the Jacobean court to life with wit and vigour' \u003cem\u003eOBSERVER\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘A warts and all story told with compassion’ PHILIPPA GREGORY\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e_______________________________\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e‘Elizabeth was king,\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eThen James was queen.’ – English author (1603)\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJames Stuart, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland did not always love wisely, but he never failed to do so boldly.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHe fell in love three times – with a Scottish lord, a knight and George Villiers, ‘the handsomest man in the whole world’. He was infatuated three more times – with a Highland earl, a Welsh lord and an English spy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe know so much about the six wives of Henry VIII, why not the six loves of James I?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis groundbreaking new book puts James – genius, liar, spendthrift, idealist, witch-hunter – and the men he loved at the centre of one of the most dramatic stories in British royal history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBeginning with the brutal and mysterious murder of his father in 1567, James’s life encompassed kidnapping, witchcraft trials, torture, his mother’s beheading, poison, political radicalism, religious fundamentalism, a queen’s alleged abortion, passionate sex, strong love, stronger hate, espionage, brothels, and a decade-long love affair that ended in assassination.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is unquestionably one of the most gripping stories in British history, retold in Gareth Russell’s \u003cem\u003eQueen James\u003c\/em\u003e with scholarship, biographical insight and wit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e________________________________\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Books like this don't come along very often. Told with Gareth Russell's characteristic verve and exquisite eye for detail, it is a story so compelling and surprising that it feels as if it has been hiding in plain sight for 400 years. A stunning achievement and a must for history fans everywhere' TRACY BORMAN\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Arotahi Agency","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47480716624108,"sku":"9780008660895","price":29.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780008660895-queen-james.jpg?v=1775620852"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/gareth-russell.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}