SHORTLISTED FOR THE DUFF COOOPER PRIZE'every page is shot through with humour and humanity' - Jessie Child, GuardianThe story of Catholic Emancipation begins with the violent Anti-Catholic Gordon Riots in 1780, fuelled by the reduction in Penal Laws against the Roman Catholics harking back to the sixteenth century. Some fifty years later, the passing of the Emancipation Bill was hailed as a 'bloodless revolution'.
Antonia Fraser brings colour and wit to the vivid drama with its huge cast of characters: George III, opposed Emancipation on the basis of the Coronation Oath, his indulgent son, the Prince of Wales, who was once enamoured of the Catholic Maria Fitzherbert before the voluptuous Lady Conyngham, Wellington and the 'born Tory' Peel vying for leadership, 'roaring' Lord Winchilsea, the heroic Daniel O'Connell.
Expertly written and deftly argued, The King and Catholics is narrative history at its very best. It is also a distant mirror of our times, reflecting the political issues arising from religious intolerance. weidenfeldandnicolson.co.uk W&N, £9.99 978 1 474 0194 8