Andrew Beattie
London-based author of children's fiction (ages 9-13) and books for adults on history, travel and the environment
Books by Andrew Beattie
I have written a number of stage plays for children, which have been performed by schools and youth theatre groups in the UK, the United States and Australia, and in September 2022 I had my first children's novel published, "The Secret in the Tower" (Sweet Cherry Publishing) - the first in a collection of historical novels for readers aged 9-12 set in medieval England. The second book in the collection, "The Angel Player", set during the Black Death, is published in September 2024. For adults I have written a number of cultural guides (published by Signal Books, Simon and Schuster and Oxford University Press) to the Alps, the Scottish Highlands and the River Danube, and books that look at "history through place" - including the places associated with King Arthur, Henry VIII and the Princes in the Tower (published by Pen & Sword Publishing). My book "Storm Force" (Signal Books) looks at how Britain has been affected by the wind - both constructively and destructively.
978-1782268819
The Secret in the Tower
Jack Broom thinks that war and politics have nothing to do with him. He is a simple apothecary’s boy dreaming of becoming a surgeon – until soldiers mistake him for a boy of noble birth.
Narrowly avoiding being dragged to the Tower of London, Jack sets out on a perilous mission to find out who he truly is. With the help of his new friend Alice, he uncovers conspiracies, treason, and the deadly lengths people will go to for power.
For readers aged 9-12.
978-1782268826
The Angel Player
In book 2 in the Tales From the Middle Ages series of historical standalones, Andrew Beattie takes readers to 1349, when England is under the cloud of the Black Death. Will Hunter and his troupe of travelling theatre players come across a young boy, barely alive. Thomas Rose has a mysterious past, an uncanny ability for magic tricks – and he claims he can help put an end to the disease and misery that has gripped the land. But is Thomas an angel or a fraud? And as his influence grows, can Will protect him from the anger of the church either way? It’s up to new and returning readers to read and find out!
For readers aged 9-12.
978-1399007788
Henry VIII: A History of His Most Important Places and Events
The story of Henry VIII is well known. He is the subject of scholarly and popular biographies and of numerous fictional works. But this book tells the story of Henry VIII in a very different way to any of these: through the places where the events of his life unfolded. From Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London to the site of the Field of the Cloth of Gold near Calais where Henry met the French King Francis I for a week of pageantry in 1520, and from his lavish palaces in London to quieter manor houses in the English countryside which he visited during his annual summer "progress", a whole new light is thrown on this most compelling of historical figures.
978-1526727855
Following in the Footsteps of the Princes in the Tower
The story of the Princes in the Tower is well known: the grim but dramatic events of 1483, when the twelve-year-old Edward Plantagenet was taken into custody by his uncle, Richard of Gloucester, and imprisoned in the Tower of London along with his younger brother, have been told and re-told hundreds of times. The true events of that year remain shrouded in mystery, and the end of the young princes' lives are an infamous part of the War of the Roses and Richard III's reign. Yet little about their lives is commonly known. Following in the Footsteps of the Princes in the Tower tells the story in a way that is wholly new: through the places where the events actually unfolded. It reveals the lives of the princes through the places they lived and visited. From Westminster Abbey to the Tower of London itself, and from the remote English castle of Ludlow to the quiet Midlands town of Stony Stratford, the trail through some of England's most historic places throws a whole new light on this most compelling of historical dramas.
978-1526727817
Following in the Footsteps of King Arthur
The story of King Arthur is one of the best known in English history. This probably mythical ruler has been the subject of thousands of books; yet this one tells his story in a way that is wholly new - through the places where the events surrounding his life supposedly unfolded. From Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, Arthur's reputed place of birth, to Slaughterbridge in the same county, one of the contenders for the location of his final battle against the Saxons, and from Cadbury Castle in Somerset, one of the numerous claimants to be the site of Arthur's fort of Camelot, to Glastonbury, where in 1191 his grave was reputedly discovered by local monks, the trail through some of England's most his most historic places throws a whole new light on this most compelling of legends.
9781904955665
The Danube - A Cultural History
The Danube is the longest river in western and central Europe. Rising amidst the beautiful wooded hills of Germany's Black Forest, it touches or winds its way through ten countries and four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea through a vast delta whose silt-filled channels spread across eastern Romania. From earliest times, the river has provided a route from Europe to Asia that was followed by armies and traders, while empires, from the Macedonian to the Habsburg, rose and fell along its length. Then, in the middle of the twentieth century, the Danube took on the role of a watery thread that unified a continent divided by the Iron Curtain. In the late 1980s the Iron Curtain lifted but the Danube valley soon became an arena for conflict during the violent break-up of the former Yugoslavia. Now, passing as it does through some of the world's youngest nations, including Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia, Moldova, and Ukraine, the river is a tangible symbol of a new, peaceful, and united Europe as well as a vital artery for commercial and leisure shipping. Andrew Beattie explores the turbulent past and vibrant present of the landscape through which the Danube flows.
978-1904955245
The Alps: A Cultural History
The Alps are Europe's highest mountain range: their broad arc stretches right across the center of the continent, encompassing a wide range of traditions and cultures. Andrew Beattie explores the turbulent past and vibrant present of this landscape, where early pioneers of tourism, mountaineering, and scientific research, along with the enduring legacies of historical regimes from the Romans to the Nazis, have all left their mark.
978-1909930001
The Scottish Highlands: A Cultural History
The Scottish Highlands form the highest mountains in the British Isles, a broad arc of rocky peaks and deep glens stretching from the outskirts of Glasgow, Perth and Aberdeen to the remote and storm-lashed Cape Wrath in Scotland's far northwest. Andrew Beattie explores the turbulent past and vibrant present of this landscape, where the legacy of events from the first Celtic settlements to the Second World War and from the construction of military roads to mining for lead, slate and gold have all left their mark.
978-1909930377
Storm Force: How Britain has been Forged by the Wind
Britain is the windiest country in Europe. Storm Force looks at all aspects of the wind in Britain. From the development of the scientific understanding of storms to their representation in literature, art and music, from the destruction of the storm-tossed Spanish Armada to the devastation wrought by tornadoes, and from the early development of windmills to the contemporary furore surrounding wind turbines, this book shows how the wind has had a surprising and profound impact on Britain's landscape, history, wildlife, economy and culture.
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