**A TIMES, GUARDIAN, TELEGRAPH,SPECTATOR, THE CRITIC, MAIL ON SUNDAY, ECONOMIST AND PROSPECT BOOK OF THE YEAR**
''A gifted narrative historian, eloquent, graceful and witty; the stories she tells are the ones we all should know'' Hilary Mantel
It was a time of climate change and colonialism, puritans and populism, witch hunts and war . . .
This is the story of a home that became a warzone. Basing House in Hampshire saw one of the longest and bloodiest sieges of the English Civil War. Defended for over two years by artists and aristocrats, actors and apothecaries, women and children, it became a symbol of royalist defiance and a microcosm of the wider conflict.
Drawing on unpublished manuscripts and the voices of dozens of soldiers and civilians, award-winning historian Jessie Childs weaves a thrilling tale of war and peace, terror and faith, savagery and civilization.
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''Extraordinary, thrillin
