In 1666, England’s saffron industry is booming, with the spice fetching a staggering £4 per pound — rivalling gold. Fabian Smith, the sensible second son of a Holborn poulterer, has sacrificed his dreams of adventure for family duty. But when the Great Fire claims his father and his reckless brother plunges them into debt with […]
Fire! Fire!
On the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire, Imogen Robertson visits the Museum of London’s dedicated exhibition. London is thick with the memory of flames this month. As you might have noticed given the flurry of events, programmes, talks and books currently available, it’s 350 years since the Great Fire tore through the city destroying […]
1666: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal
It is unsurprising that there seems to be a new appetite for the Stuart period, given the seventeenth century brought us some of the best and most enduring drama ever written, a regicide, a civil war, a republic, a restoration and, in the aftermath of all this, one of the most dramatically eventful and devastating […]