Athelstan: The Making of England (Penguin Monarchs)

The formation of England happened against the odds—the division of the country into rival kingdoms, the assaults of the Vikings, the precarious position of the island on the edge of the known world. But King Alfred ensured the survival of Wessex, his son Eadweard expanded it, and his grandson Æthelstan finally united Mercia and Wessex, conquered Northumbria and became Rex totius Britanniae. Tom Holland recounts this extraordinarily exciting story with relish and drama. We meet the great figures of the age, including Alfred and his daughter Æthelflæd, 'Lady of the Mercians', who brought Æthelstan up at the Mercian court. At the end of the book we understand the often confusing history of the Anglo-Saxon kings better than ever before.

• Cnut: The North Sea King (Penguin Monarchs)
• Aethelred the Unready: The Failed King (Penguin Monarchs)
• William I: England's Conqueror (Penguin Monarchs)
• Stephen: The Reign of Anarchy (Penguin Monarchs)
• Richard I: The Crusader King (Penguin Monarchs)
• Henry II: A Prince Among Princes (Penguin Monarchs)
• Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar
• Edward III: A Heroic Failure (Penguin Monarchs)
• Henry I: The Father of His People (Penguin Monarchs)
• Edward I: A Second Arthur? (Penguin Monarchs)