New British Books This Week + Churchill's Novel

August 26, 2025

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Most people know Winston Churchill as the steadfast Prime Minister who led Britain through World War II. Fewer realize that he was also the author of a novel, Savrola, his contribution to the largely forgotten genre known as Ruritarian romance.

So what exactly is Ruritarian romance? It’s a swashbuckling style of fiction set in fictional European kingdoms—full of adventure, intrigue, mistaken identities, and dashing rescues. The name comes from “Ruritania,” the invented country in The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), the novel that kicked the whole genre into high gear.

That book’s author, Anthony Hope, was British, and his tale of a common Englishman impersonating a king captured imaginations worldwide. Other British writers followed suit, blending romantic plots with political conspiracies in exotic yet vaguely European locales. These stories were the perfect escape for readers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

But like many popular trends, the Ruritarian romance faded. After World War I, shifting political realities and changing tastes made tales of invented monarchies feel outdated. By the mid-20th century, the genre had all but vanished, living on mainly in parodies, homages, and the occasional modern riff.

Curious? Here are a few more examples to kick off your exploration:

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New British Books This Week

The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin

In 1895 London, three women trapped in suffocating marriages are drawn into Lady Duxbury’s secret book club, where forbidden reading and dangerous secrets could upend their lives.

Get it: Amazon | Bookshop.org (supports independent bookshops)

A Moment’s Shadow by Anna Lee Huber

In 1920 Dublin, former Secret Service agent Verity Kent and her husband race to stop a traitor plotting to unleash stolen poison gas while also investigating jewel thefts tied to the turbulent struggle between the IRA and British forces.

Get it: Amazon | Bookshop.org (supports independent bookshops)

Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amanda Chapman

In New York, book conservator Tory Van Dyne teams up with a woman claiming to be Agatha Christie—returned from the afterlife—to investigate a suspicious death linked to her cousin’s talent agent.

Get it: Amazon | Bookshop.org (supports independent bookshops)

The Battle of the Bookshops by Poppy Alexander

In the seaside town of Portneath, Jules Capelthorne returns from London to save her great-aunt’s century-old bookshop, only to face off against her childhood rival—now running a sleek new store across the street.

Get it: Amazon | Bookshop.org (supports independent bookshops)

Secret Lives of the Dead by Tim Lebbon

In this folk horror tale from Welsh author Tim Lebbon, a burglary at a derelict country house entangles three friends in a two-centuries-old family curse that culminates in a deadly pursuit on storm-swept Crow Island.

Get it: Amazon | Bookshop.org (supports independent bookshops)

Love’s a Witch by Tricia O’Malley

In the Scottish town of Briarhaven, witch Sloane MacGregor returns to break her family’s centuries-old curse, only to clash with the town’s grumpy mayor who wants her gone before her chaotic magic causes disaster.

Get it: Amazon | Bookshop.org (supports independent bookshops)

Isabella’s Not Dead by Beth Morrey

When Gwen’s best friend vanished fifteen years ago, she refused to believe she was dead—now at 53, Gwen sets off across England and the broader continent to uncover the truth about Isabella’s disappearance.

Get it: Amazon | Bookshop.org (supports independent bookshops)

Sherlock Holmes & the Real Thing by Nicholas Meyer

In snowbound 1890s London, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate a case that begins with a tenant behind on rent and spirals into murder, art forgery, and deception in the cutthroat world of fine art.

Get it: Amazon | Bookshop.org (supports independent bookshops)

Deadly Village by Kate Parker

In post-Blitz Cotswold village Chipping Ford, former reporter and intelligence asset Olivia Redmond investigates the murder of a local gossip, uncovering blackmail, betrayal, and long-buried secrets.

Get it: Amazon | Bookshop.org (supports independent bookshops)

Ship of Thieves by Douglas Skelton

When Jonas Flynt learns his stepmother has been abducted from Edinburgh and taken to the West Indies, he pursues her into the Caribbean, where his search entangles him with Blackbeard and a deadly high-seas conspiracy.

Get it: Amazon

The Antique Store Detective & the Deadly Inheritance by Clare Chase

In the English village of Hope Eaton, antique shop owner Bella Winter investigates the suspicious death of Clemmie Crowe and the disappearance of a priceless ruby necklace, uncovering secrets within the powerful Powell family.

Get it: Amazon | Bookshop.org (supports independent bookshops)

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