Turncoat

Dennis Sewell

Publisher: Atlantic Books
Publication Date: 04/09/2025 ISBN: 9781786498250 Category:
Hardback

£25.00

Purchase a Mr B’s Sticker with your order.

Become the envy of all book lovers with your own Mr B’s sticker to show off where you do your shopping.

Quantity:

Description

George Downing was one of the English Civil War’s most cunning spies. As Oliver Cromwell’s head of military intelligence, he forged a career as a politician and diplomat, bribing, blackmailing and browbeating his way to success, before spectacularly betraying his friends by defecting to the Royalist camp.

Always close to the action, Downing walked with the most illustrious men of his times: Oliver Cromwell and Charles II were his patrons; Samuel Pepys was his clerk; William of Orange godfather to his son. And when he came to build his famous street, Downing Street, which became the home of Britain’s prime ministers, his surveyor was Sir Christopher Wren.

Downing helped start two major wars and had a hand in founding New York. Yet he has remained an elusive figure in history, as if hiding himself in footnotes. Turncoat tells the full story of Downing’s espionage and double-dealing for the first time, following this mystery man from the asceticism of Puritan New England, across battlefields and through courts, chancelleries and parliaments, to the heart of wealth and power in Restoration London.

Publisher Review

Sewell scores well in his command of history, better in his turn of phrase, and best of all in his delightful vignettes. — Peter Stanford * Independent on CATHOLICS * Richly entertaining… Excellent. — A.N. Wilson * Literary Review on CATHOLICS *

Book experts at your service

What are you looking for?

A recommendation
Something specific
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • Mr B's Recommendation Station
  • Fill in the three questions below, along with your name and email address, and our book experts will be in touch soon with their personal recommendations

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • I'm after something specific
  • Tell us about the book, author or subject you're looking for, along with your name and email address and our book experts will be in touch as soon as possible