Charlotte Bronte

Rebecca Fraser is a writer and broadcaster whose work includes a biography of Charlotte Brontë which examines her life in the context of contemporary attitudes to women. President of the Brontë Society for many years, she wrote the introductions to the Everyman editions of Shirley and The Professor and is a contributor to the BBC History website. Her most recent book, A People’s History of Britain, is a highly readable account of British history. It has been described as ‘an elegantly written, impressively well-informed single-volume history of how England was governed during the past 2000 years.’

'If men could see us as we really are, they would be amazed', wrote Charlotte Brontë, the outwardly conventional parson's daughter who had rarely met any men beyond those of the church or classroom by the time Jane Eyre was published in 1847. 
 
From the landscape of the Yorkshire moors, an appalling childhood and a family decimated by consumption, Jane Eyre came as an instant literary sensation. It also brought Charlotte Brontë the notoriety that was to remain with her for the rest of her short and tragic life. 
 
Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte's first biographer, attempted to clear Charlotte of the charges of passionate immorality that were levelled at a woman author - and an unmarried one at that. Rebecca Fraser, 130 years later, placed Charlotte's life within the perceptual framework of contemporary attitudes to women. Her biography is an invaluable contribution to Brontë scholarship, which shares her admiration for a woman prepared to stand out against some of the cruelest Victorian ideas about her sex.

A People's History Of Britain

A dazzling one-volume history of Britain, both narrative and anecdotal.

No family in the English-speaking world should be without this stupendous work

At a time when too little history is taught in schools and dubious history presented on TV, Rebecca Fraser has blown a tremendous blast of traditional British history... All will learn from it

A reference book that will see every history student through school and university

An elegantly written, impressively well-informed single-volume history of how England was governed during the past 2000 years. It should be prescribed reading for all politicians

Fraser has put grown-up history back on the national agenda

Rebecca Fraser has worked as a researcher, publisher's editor and journalist, and has written for many publications including Tatler, Vogue, The Times and the Spectator.  She has also illustrated two children's books, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and Robin Hood.  She is married and has three daughters.  Her first book, a biography of Charlotte Brontë, was very well received, and she has recently become President of the Brontë Society.

Combining compelling narrative history with helpful chronology, A People's History of Britain tells the story - from the Romans to the present day - of the small northern islands off the coast of Europe which became the world's largest empire. Full of kings, queens and battles and the heroic individuals who created turning points in history, it is packed with anecdotes about British scientists, explorers, soldiers, traders, writers and artists.

Rebecca Fraser

The Winslow Family and the Fight for the New World

A Times History Book of the Year 
 
The voyage of the Mayflower is one of the seminal events in world history. But the story did not end with her arrival on the frozen coast of New England in 1620. In an epic history, Rebecca Fraser relates one ordinary family’s extraordinary response to the challenges of life in America. Despite the intense physical trials of living in the New World, Edward Winslow found America exotic and enticing. His remarkable friendship with Massasoit, the King of the Wampanoags, is part of the legend of Thanksgiving. Yet, fifty years later, Edward’s son Josiah was commanding the New England militias against Massasoit’s son in King Philip’s War. A fast-paced intensely human portrait, The Mayflower Generation reveals the contradictions between generations as they made the painful decisions that determined the future of America.

Rebecca Fraser

The Mayflower Generation

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