The Time Traveller's Guide to
Regency Britain

Reviewers' comments

'Mortimer's erudition is formidable, and he rarely writes a dull sentence. The learning is lightly worn - you barely notice that the delectable anecdotes and the fascinating snippets of information are lent coherence by a solid contextual framework of statistical evidence...' (Andrew Taylor, The Times (7 November 2020).

'We assume that we know about Regency Britain. After all, we've read Jane Austen's novels and we've watched the BBC costume dramas. What Ian Mortimer demonstrates in this excellent book is that there was far more to this exuberant and often horrifying period than is commonly realised... Jane Austen... would have found in its pages not only her own world, but other Regency worlds she probably never knew existed.' (Andrew Taylor, The Times (7 November 2020).

'Mortimer... has written Time Traveller’s Guides to Medieval and Elizabethan England and Restoration Britain. Microhistory is his business – the history of tiny things – and it is thrilling because, when you read it, you imagine yourself among your ancestors, and they are as awful and ingenious as we are... This is ideal history; tales of people like us, who tell you that the past is closer than you think.' (Tanya Gold, The Daily Telegraph (14 November 2020).

'Entertaining... Every page of The Time Traveller’s Guide To Regency Britain is crammed with enlightening information about the period' (Nick Rennison, The Daily Mail (20 November 2020).

'Historian Ian Mortimer has made this kind of imaginative time travel his speciality. He has already written guides to the medieval, Elizabethan and Restoration periods, and now he’s bringing that same mix of telling anecdote and pithy research to Regency Britain.' (Kathryn Hughes, The Mail on Sunday (22 November 2020).

'He succeeds, rather brilliantly, in making a mass of information accessible and entertaining.' (Kate Hubbard, The Oldie (1 December 2020).

'Although the book is highly imaginative, it is also supported by serious scholarship... [and] is as entertaining as it is inventive. Though it often comments on the hardships faced by the labouring classes, the book also has many humorous episodes. I recommend it to anyone interested in the period.' (Harry Adams, The Yorker (25 January 2021).