Lost Realms

'A beautiful, beautiful book . . . archaeology is changing so much about the way we view the so-called Dark Ages … [Williams] is just brilliant at bringing them to light' Rory Stewart on The Rest is PoliticsFrom the bestselling author of Viking Britain, a new epic history of our forgotten past.

Reviews

PRAISE FOR LOST REALMS
‘Sceptical, scrupulous, written with wit and flair’Financial Times
‘This brilliant history of Dark Age Britain mixes serious scholarship with nods to pop culture, from Tolkien to The Wicker Man… Lost Realms is a joy to read’The Telegraph, FIVE STAR REVIEW
‘Williams makes a compelling guide as he steers us through the darkness’ Spectator
‘Williams has a fine command of the literary, administrative, religious and archaeological sources of early medieval Britain. He is a diligent scholar and a likeable writer’ Sunday Times
‘Rich and captivating’ TLS
‘The book is beautifully written, pushing at the very limits of our ability to understand the early medieval world’ British Archaeology
‘In recovering what he can of the near-vanished histories of Britain’s lost realms, Williams has done an admirable job, evoking the spirit of an age that was both chaotic and creative, from the ferment of which England and ultimately Britain emerged. It is a gift indeed to be reminded that Dumnonia, Lindsey, Fortriu, Hwicce, Elmet and Rheged – faint ghosts of places though they may now seem – made their own contributions to what we are today’ Literary Review
'Thomas Williams has blended a potent brew of mythic and material fragments to raise forgotten kings & queens (and their stories) from the grave. An historian not afraid of the dark and with eyes adapted to it – what he sees is assessed sagely and described beautifully'
Christopher Hadley, author of Hollow Places