Great Britain, history book series in reading order

by Terry Deary

by Andrew Lane

by Patricia Finney

by Terry Deary

by Avi

Terry Deary

340 books• 41 series

Terry Deary is a British children's author, born in 1946, best known as the writer of the Horrible Histories series. Deary has written 351 books, which have sold more than 38 million copies in over 45 languages, and has ranked among Britain's best-selling authors since 1994. In 2012 Deary was the tenth most-borrowed author in British libraries, and Books for Keeps magazine named Deary the Outstanding Children's Non-Fiction Author of the 20th Century. The catalogue lists 340 titles from Teaching Through Theatre (1977) onward, including the True Stories and Tudor Terror series.

Alistair Moffat, born 1950, is a Scottish writer and journalist who directed the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and later served as Rector of the University of St Andrews. Scottish history is the main subject: Kelsae (1985), The Sea Kingdoms (2001), The Borders (2002), Before Scotland (2005) and Tyneside (2005) each take one place or region from its earliest times. Travel writing, human genetics and memoir also appear, Homing (2003) among them. The 35 catalogued titles begin with The Edinburgh Fringe (1978) and reach The Highlands and Islands of Scotland: A New History (2024).

Lucy Worsley is an English historian who writes about British royal history, palaces and domestic life. Twenty books are catalogued from 1998 to 2026, beginning with guides to Hardwick Old Hall (1998), Bolsover Castle (2001) and Hampton Court Palace (2005), then Cavalier (2007), Courtiers (2010) on the Georgian court at Kensington Palace, If Walls Could Talk (2011) and A Very British Murder (2013). Kings, queens, biography and social history run through the subjects, with children's titles among them, and Queens and Kings (2026) is the newest. Worsley was joint chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces from 2003 to 2024, presents history series for BBC Television and Channel 5, and was born in 1973.

M.J. Trow is the pen name of Meirion James Trow, a Welsh crime writer born 16 October 1949. The 105 catalogued books open with The Adventures of Inspector Lestrade (1985), and Lestrade, Peter Maxwell, Kit Marlowe and Margaret Murray each feature in a mystery series. Other series are Grand & Batchelor, Britannia, Calidus and Geoffrey Chaucer Mystery. Historical mystery, murder investigation and teachers are among the subjects, and Maxwell's Enigma (2026) is the newest title.

Medieval history is Dan Jones's subject, most of it non-fiction: Summer of Blood (2009), The Plantagenets (2012), Magna Carta (2014), The Wars of the Roses (2014), The Templars (2017) and Crusaders (2019). Seventeen titles are catalogued through Castles (2026), and Essex Dogs is the one named series. British history from 1066 to 1485, kings and rulers and the Middle Ages fill the subject tags.

Who HQ is the credit on 429 children's nonfiction biographies in the catalogue, published from 2002 to 2026. The run opens with Who Was Albert Einstein?, Who Was Amelia Earhart? and Who Was Ben Franklin? (all 2002) and reaches Who Is Vera Wang (2026). Subjects include biography, history and juvenile nonfiction for readers aged 8 to 12. Other names credited on some of the books include Megan Stine (7), John Hinderliter (7) and Nico Medina (4).

Geraldine McCaughrean

155 books• 14 series

Geraldine McCaughrean, born 6 June 1951, is a British children's novelist with more than 170 books to that name. Peter Pan in Scarlet (2004) is the official sequel to Peter Pan, commissioned by Great Ormond Street Hospital. McCaughrean has won the Carnegie Medal twice and the Michael L. Printz Award. Myths, legends, folklore and Bible stories appear among the subjects, and series include Myths and Legends of the World, Roman Myths and Brambledown Tales. The catalogue holds 155 books from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights (1982) to Under a Fire-Red Sky (2025).

Jim Eldridge, born November 1944, is an English screenwriter for radio, film and television with hundreds of scripts broadcast over a career of more than 30 years. Radio shows created by Eldridge include King Street Junior, The Demon Headmaster, Shut UP and Parsley Sidings, and television creations include Powers, Time of My Life and Uncle Jack. The catalogue holds 117 books from Down Payment On Death (1972) to The Museum Detectives' Christmas Mystery (2026), with Murder at the Vatican due in 2027. Bogeys, Boils And Bellybuttons (1986), Bad Boyes (1987) and Uncle Jack and Operation Green (1990) are early titles, and series include Museum Mysteries, Hotel Mysteries, Cathedral Mysteries, DCI Paul Stark, SAS and Disgusting Dave.

Jacqueline Wilson

178 books• 15 series

Jacqueline Wilson, born Jacqueline Aitken on 17 December 1945, is an English novelist who writes for children. Adoption, abuse and divorce are among the realistic topics the novels take on. Wilson made a debut in 1969 and has passed 100 books; this catalogue lists 178, the earliest dated entry being Hide And Seek (1972) and the latest The Seaside Sleepover (2025). Tracy Beaker, Hetty Feather, Girls, Sleepovers and Stevie Day are among the series. Friendship, sisters, family life and schools appear in the subject records.

Andrew Lane, born 17 April 1963, is a British author and journalist, best known for the Young Sherlock Holmes novels for young adults. Media spin-off work carries the name Andy Lane: novels in the Virgin New Adventures range, and audio dramas for Big Finish drawn from the BBC series Doctor Who. The catalogue lists 44 titles from Doctor Who Yearbook 1994 (1993) to The Teeth of Ice (2023), taking in All-Consuming Fire (1994), The Babylon File (1999) and Death Cloud (2010). Series include Young Sherlock Holmes, AWOL, Crusoe Adventure, Netherspace, Lost Worlds, BUGS and UFO. Justin Richards, Jonathan Morris, Alan Barnes and Guy Adams each carry a credit on one or two of the titles.

Mike Ashley is a British bibliographer, author and editor working in science fiction, mystery and fantasy. Ashley edits the Mammoth Book anthologies, each built on a theme, and has a particular interest in fiction magazines. Magazine histories include a multi-volume History of the Science Fiction Magazine and The Age of the Storytellers. Ashley has published over 100 nonfiction books and anthologies; this catalogue lists 40, from History of Science Fiction Magazine Volume 1: 1926-1935 (1974) to Weird Sisters (2025).

Patricia Finney is an English author and journalist who has published twenty-one novels, many set in Elizabethan times, across spy thrillers, crime novels and children's books. A Shadow of Gulls, written when Finney was 18, won the 1977 David Higham Award for Best First Novel, and BBC Radio 3 broadcast her play The Flood the same year. Finney writes as P.F. Chisholm and as Grace Cavendish, the name on the Lady Grace Mysteries. The David Becket and Simon Ames novels - Firedrake's Eye (1992), Unicorn's Blood (1998), Gloriana's Torch (2003) - sit beside the Jack books about a dog. Twenty-eight titles are catalogued.

Andrew Roberts

30 books• 1 series

Andrew Roberts, Baron Roberts of Belgravia, born 13 January 1963, is an English popular historian and journalist whose research concentrates on English-speaking nations, particularly those socially tied to the United Kingdom. Roberts holds the Bonnie and Tom McCloskey Visiting Research Fellowship at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a Lehrman Institute Distinguished Lectureship at the New York Historical Society, and was a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery in London from 2013 to 2021. The catalogue lists 30 titles, from 'The Holy Fox': The Life of Lord Halifax (1991) through Salisbury: Victorian Titan (2000), Napoleon and Wellington: The Long Duel (2001) and Waterloo: June 18, 1815 (2005) to Napoleon and His Marshals in 2026. Subjects name biography, military history, Winston Churchill, the Second World War and the Napoleonic wars.

David Olusoga

8 books

David Adetayo Olusoga, born January 1970, is a British-Nigerian historian, broadcaster and film-maker, and Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester. Olusoga has made historical documentaries for the BBC and written for The Guardian. The catalogue holds 8 books running from The Kaiser's Holocaust (2010) to Black History for Every Day of the Year (2024). Black and British: A Forgotten History (2016) appears alongside a short edition (2020) and an illustrated edition (2022). Subject headings name Black British history, race relations, colonies and genocide.