Welcome to the official website of the British author and historian Alison Weir.
For Gloriana, a new historical tour to be led by Alison Weir in 2012 (see below), please go to www.alisonweirtours.com.
**THIS AUTHOR IS NOT THE AMERICAN ALISON WEIR, founder of the organisation If Americans Knew.**
Here you will find news and information on upcoming books, a biography, details of upcoming events and tours, and more.
ALISON WEIR IS THE BIGGEST-SELLING FEMALE HISTORIAN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM SINCE RECORDS BEGAN IN 1997. SHE HAS SOLD MORE THAN 2.3 MILLION BOOKS: OVER 1,000,000 IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, AND MORE THAN 1,300,000 IN THE UNITED STATES.
ALISON WEIR IS THE 5TH BEST-SELLING HISTORIAN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
(The top four are Antony Beevor, Stephen Ambrose, Simon Schama and Peter Ackroyd.)
**ALISON'S NEXT BIOGRAPHY WILL BE ELIZABETH OF YORK**
See the News page for details.
Coming in 2012!
Alison has now completed her fourth novel, A DANGEROUS INHERITANCE, the sequel to INNOCENT TRAITOR, which tells the story of Lady Katherine Grey. More than that, it's a suspenseful tale about one of history's most controversial mysteries, approached from a new angle in an intriguing sub-plot, with a hint of the supernatural...
This book will be published on 21st June in the U.K. and on 25th September in the U.S.A. For more info about the plot, see the NEWS page and the BOOKS pages.
Alison's latest biography, MARY BOLEYN, was published in the U.S.A. on 4th October and the U.K. on 6th October. The U.K. paperback will be published on 3rd May 2012.
**A second ALISON WEIR TOUR is now almost sold out!**
Join Alison Weir as she retraces the steps of Gloriana, England’s great Queen Elizabeth I, on a historical tour that embraces many of the glories and splendours of Tudor England. Start your journey with three nights at Hever Castle, once the home of Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn, and enjoy a sumptuous banquet in the Castle Dining Hall. Another link with Anne is Blickling Hall, her probable birthplace, and the Tower of London, where Anne and Elizabeth were both imprisoned. Tour Hatfield House and see the remaining wing of the Old Palace, where Elizabeth spent much of her childhood and youth. Visit Hampton Court, the most magnificent of the Tudor Palaces, and learn about the life of Elizabeth’s court. Follow Elizabeth on progress at Norwich, and at Kenilworth Castle, where her favourite, Robert Dudley, laid on the famous ‘Princely Pleasures’ for her in 1575. Visit the great Elizabethan courtier houses: Burghley House, built by William Cecil, the Queen’s chief minister, and Penshurst Place, the beautiful home of the poet-soldier Sir Philip Sidney. See the embroideries of Elizabeth’s rival, Mary, Queen of Scots at Oxburgh Hall, and discover the perils of being a Catholic in the time a Protestant queen at Harvington Hall. Enjoy talks on the Virgin Queen and her world by Alison and other expert historians, including Sarah Gristwood, author of Elizabeth and Leicester, who received much praise on 2011’s Tudor Treasures Tour, and professional guided tours at the various sites, with a few surprises along the way! Stay in luxury hotels, be wined and dined by your hosts, and sit back and relax as your coach takes you back in time on a memorable tour of Elizabethan England – the Golden Age of Gloriana.
Places are limited to 25 guests per tour. www.alisonweirtours.com
NOW BEING SERIALISED ON THIS WEBSITE...
A lover, a traitor, a witch, a nun, a spy and a murderess: theirs are just a few of the stories that you can now read on this website...
Alison is currently serialising one of her unpublished novels, The Chronicles of Elhurst, which tells the vivid and dramatic story of the generations that lived in an English manor house from the Norman Conquest to the Swinging Sixties. It is the history of a dynasty, set against the backdrop of the history of England. More chapters will be appearing in sequence over the coming months. Watch the Miscellany page for each new instalment!
Praise for Alison Weir
"Alison Weir has perfected the art of bringing history to life. There is a breadth of vision to [her] research and writing that provides a sense of time and place as well as consequence." (Chicago Tribune)
"Alison Weir has a wonderful way of bringing… history alive." (Manchester Evening News)
"Alison Weir`s hugely popular history books are as gripping as novels." (The Times)
"Alison Weir is one of our greatest popular historians." (The Daily Mail)
"Alison Weir writes compellingly. Her art is such that the reader is swept along by the story, scarcely noticing how very complicated that story is." (The Literary Review)
"Alison Weir is one of our best popular historians and one, moreover, with an impressive scholarly pedigree in Tudor history." (Frank McLynn, The Independent on Sunday)
"Weir provides immense satisfaction. She writes in a pacy, vivid style, engaging the heart as well as the mind." (Amanda Foreman, The Independent)
"Weir is a master at elucidating the interplay of realpolitik and character…Her assiduousness and informed judgement are what make her a writer to trust." (The Boston Globe)
"I don`t know another historian who can match Weir in showing the cold political calculation, implications and ramifications of the marriages and murders of the English monarchy; so when this clear-eyed anatomist of realpolitik finds reckless passion and bruised feelings shaping history, I am inclined to believe her." (The Boston Globe)
"The scope and depth of Weir`s research provide a wealth of detail missing from many other narrative histories about the Tudors." (Publishers Weekly)
"I've been Alison Weir's publisher for about nine years, in Pimlico and Cape. We've gone from her being a respected historian to the point where she's a phenomenon. Her last Pimlico paperback, Eleanor of Aquitaine, sold 100,000 copies. Her most recent book, about Henry VIII, has sold over 25,000 in Cape." (Will Sulkin, Alison Weir's non-fiction commissioning editor, Publishing News, 2002)
"One of our most accessible historians, Weir is scholarly and straightforward." (Waterstones Books Quarterly)
"Mrs Weir is a fine story teller, basing her texts on very deep research. Her detail is immaculate. She manages her complex material well, but it is her set-piece stories that impress; many have never been told so well." (Teaching History)
"Weir`s great strengths lie in knowing which sources to choose, and her proper scepticism in sorting propaganda from accounts with the ring of truth." (The Glasgow Herald)
"Alison Weir creates engrossing narrative history." (The Boston Globe)
"Weir is so much the master of the period, so intuitive and unsentimental an interpreter of royal minds, and so upfront about her assumptions." (The Boston Globe)
"No matter who the royal subject, no matter if it is fiction or non-fiction, Alison Weir can always be counted on to tell a superb story." (Booklist)
"Alison Weir has become an authority on Britain`s royal families. She has blown the dust from archives that have mouldered for years in dusty palaces and museums. The result is a series of vivid cameos as brilliantly conceived as they are scholarly." (Birmingham Post)
"Alison Weir has a reputation for producing well-researched, well-written histories." (Yorkshire Evening Press)
"Alison Weir has a brilliant handle of character-driven history titles." (The Bookseller)
"Weir wears her learning lightly and has a pleasant habit of anticipating all the questions of a curious reader." (Publishers Weekly)
"Alison Weir [is] a robust and very readable Tudor historian." (The Daily Post)
"Weir is an expert on Tudor history, and her work is both scholarly and readable - an enviable talent to possess." (The Bookseller)
"If only Alison Weir`s works had been around when I was sitting my history A-levels." (BBC Homes and Antiques)
"Alison Weir's great strength is her ability to make dense, fact-packed history seem like a pleasurable, engaging novel." (Suite 101)
"Alison Weir, who combines exacting scholarship with the ability to make complex, indeed, labyrinthine political affairs comprehensible, engrossing and bloodcurdling, is one of the best historians of the British monarchy at work today." (The Boston Globe)
"Part of Weir's gift is relating history in a familiar, friendly, often-conversational way." (The Nashville Tennessean)
"As Weir so ably shows, there is more to writing history than comforting readers by rehearsing the familiar stories." (Lisa Jardine, The Literary Review)
"Weir is a master at weaving centuries-old details into a lively, compelling narrative." (Chicago Tribune)
"Weir is one of the best-selling popular historians. She writes entertaining, readable histories." (Hatchards)
"In the last ten years, the quality of Alison Weir's prose has made her the most popular historian writing in Britain today. No less than five of her books featured in the Waterstone's Top 20 bestselling history titles last year. There are many reasons for this. Alison Weir writes readable, enjoyable, convincing popular history - great stuff!" (Waterstone's History Guide, 2003)
"Weir is an expert on Tudor history, and her work is both scholarly and readable - an enviable talent to possess." (The Bookseller)
"Ripping good reading!" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
"When historians go into print, they must strive to achieve a readable style without sacrificing historical accuracy. Miss Weir achieves this with consummate ease." (Yorkshire Evening Press)
"Alison Weir [is] established as one of the foremost authorities on the history of England's oft-troubled monarchy." (San Francisco Chronicle)
"Weir is a respected historian known for making her complex subjects accessible to the average reader." (Fort Worth Morning Star)
"Alison Weir [is] one of the best historians of the Tudor age." (F Magazine)
"The finest historian of English monarchical succession writing now is Alison Weir. Many and great are her books." (Boston Globe Online)
"Ms Weir cannot be faulted in her endeavour to research anywhere that will add dimension to her subject." (Surrey County Council Magazine)
"She is an expert on the [Tudor] period." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Antonia Fraser and Alison Weir are beacons of hope and real role models for aspiring female historians." (Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator, Historic Royal Palaces)
"Weir's great strengths lie in knowing which sources to choose, and her proper scepticism in sorting propaganda from truth; the result is a complex mixture of politics and personalities." (The Glasgow Herald)
"Weir is one of our top historians." (Caledonia magazine)
"Alison Weir is something of an authority on the monarchy of years gone by." (South Wales Evening Post)
"Alison Weir is a gifted writer, [Her] research is always first-rate and her narratives accessible." (Tucson Citizen)
"David Starkey and Alison Weir [are] the two best Tudor historians we have working today." (Philippa Gregory)
"Splendid . . . In giving narrative voice to her subjects, Alison Weir brings us into emotional contact with them in a way that an unadorned historical account does not." (The Boston Globe)
"Weir’s books are always compelling reading, because not only does she write clearly and engagingly, but she weighs the facts in evidence and consider the bias of multiple sources, and lets the sources speak." (www.thehistorylady.wordpress.com)
"Mrs Weir is a fine story teller, basing her texts on very deep research. Her detail is immaculate... She has read more widely in contemporary texts than recent historians... She manages her material well, but it is her set-piece stories that impress; many have never been told so well." (Teaching History)
"Alison Weir is the best kind of popular historian. She writes with an obvious wealth of research and scholarship under her belt." (The History Review from Waterstone's Booksellers)
