This weekend is a bank holiday in celebration of King Charles III Coronation. Such a perfect time to start a new book and I have some recommendations here for you.
Samuel Pepys Diary has enthralled readers for centuries with its audacious wit, gripping detail, and indecent assignations. Pepys stopped writing at the age of 36. Or did he? This action-packed historical thriller imagines what might have happened next.
The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys by Jack Jewers picks up a week after Pepys’ last diary entry, and follows Pepys on a mission to investigate the death of a Crown agent in Portsmouth – the home of the Royal Navy. Events spiral out of control, embroiling Pepys in a deadly plot that reaches higher than he ever could have imagined. And along the way he is forced to confront some uncomfortable truths about who he is and what he really believes…
Jack Jewers reimagines one of Britain’s greatest historical figures through a 21st century lens. Readers will love how Pepys not only turns detective but must confront his own prejudices along the way. What better allies for one of history’s most infamous womanizers than a secret society of dangerous outlaws, made up entirely of women?
It is the summer of 1669 and England is in dire straits. The treasury’s coffers are bare and tensions with the powerful Dutch Republic are boiling over. And now, an investigator sent by the King to look into corruption at the Royal Navy has been brutally murdered.
Loathe to leave the pleasures of London, Samuel Pepys is sent dragging his feet to Portsmouth to find the truth about what happened. Aided by his faithful assistant, Will Hewer, he soon exposes the plot as the work of a Dutch spy. But has he got the right man? The truth may be much more sinister. And if the real killer isn’t found in time, then England could be thrown into a war that would have devastating consequences…
The modern diary as we know it owes its popularity to the 17th century diarist Samuel Pepys. Quite simply without Pepys’ secret diary, discovered 150 years after his death, there may have been no Bridget Jones, no Dracula, no Adrian Mole, and no Secret Diary of a Call Girl.
But this is no dry, lifeless old document. Pepys’ diaries have enthralled generations of readers with their exciting, often crude and frequently hilarious confessions about day-to-day life during the Restoration. From slating Shakespeare’s plays to detailing his secret love affairs, Pepys’ diary reads like a 17th century Hello! Magazine.
Pepys witnessed some of the most dramatic events in English history, from the return of Charles II to the horrors of the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London, but put his pen down for the last time in the early summer of 1669. Jack Jewers’ inventive crime caper, The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys imagines what happened next.
For those unfamiliar with the Restoration period, this was when Charles II returned to the throne after Oliver Cromwell. It was a time of hedonism and excitement, which saw the theatres reopen and women take to the stage for the first time. Brothels and ale-houses could once more operate freely. But it was also an era rocked by disaster, from the Great Fire of London in 1666, to devastating wars with the Dutch – that England lost. It was the best of times, and the worst of times.
About Jack Jewers
Jack Jewers is a filmmaker and writer, passionate about history. His career has been spent telling stories across every form of media, and his body of work includes film, TV, and digital media. His films have been shown at dozens of international film festivals, including Cannes, New York, Marseille, Dublin, and London’s FrightFest, garnering multiple accolades, including an award from the Royal Television Society and a nomination from BAFTA Wales for Best Short Film. The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys is his first novel.
There is also the release of the latest instalment of Bridgerton, “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” which like The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys imagines a world where polite society also includes people of colour.
From No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn and television pioneer Shonda Rhimes comes a powerful and romantic novel of Bridgerton’s Queen Charlotte and King George III’s great love story and how it sparked a societal shift, inspired by the original series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, created by Shondaland for Netflix.
‘We are one crown. His weight is mine, and mine is his . . .’
In 1761, on a sunny day in September, a King and Queen met for the very first time. They were married within hours. Born a German Princess, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was beautiful, headstrong, and fiercely intelligent . . . not precisely the attributes the British Court had been seeking in a spouse for the young King George III. But her fire and independence were exactly what she needed, because George had secrets . . . secrets with the potential to shake the very foundations of the monarchy.
Thrust into her new role as a royal, Charlotte must learn to navigate the intricate politics of the court . . . all the while guarding her heart, because she is falling in love with the King, even as he pushes her away. Above all she must learn to rule, and to understand that she has been given the power to remake society. She must fight – for herself, for her husband, and for all her new subjects who look to her for guidance and grace. For she will never be just Charlotte again. She must instead fulfil her destiny . . . as Queen.
Hope you all have a wonderful bank holiday.
Disclaimer – Thank you to the Author for my gifted copy of The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys