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It's been awhile since I had some covers to update and all of the sudden, I have several!!
The Resurrection of the Romanovs by Greg King and Penny Wilson. US and UK release Januaury 2011. The truth of the enduring mystery of Anastasia's fate-and the life of her most convincing impostor The passage of more than ninety years and the publication of hundreds of books in dozens of languages has not extinguished an enduring interest in the mysteries surrounding the 1918 execution of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his family. The Resurrection of the Romanovs draws on a wealth of new information from previously unpublished materials and unexplored sources to probe the most enduring Romanov mystery of all: the fate of the Tsar's youngest daughter, Anastasia, whose remains were not buried with those of her family, and her identification with Anna Anderson, the woman who claimed to be the missing Grand Duchess. Reveals previously unknown details of Anderson's life as Franziska Schanzkowska
Explains how Anderson acquired her knowledge, why people believed her claim, and how it transformed Anastasia into a cultural phenomenon
Draws on unpublished materials including Schanzkowska family memoirs, legal papers, and exclusive access to private documents of the British and Hessian Royal Families
Includes 75 photographs, dozens published here for the first time
Written by the authors of The Fate of the Romanovs
Refuting long-accepted evidence in the Anderson case, The Resurrection of the Romanovs finally explodes the greatest royal mystery of the twentieth-century.
The Tudors: The Kings and Queens of England's Golden Age by Jane Bingham. UK release April 1, 2011. The book is a highly readable account of a fascinating era - an era that witnessed barbaric public executions and courtly conspiracies, the Great Fire of London and the plague, as well as being the age of Shakespeare, Bacon and Raleigh, the Reformation, exploration and victory over the Spanish Armada. Full of colourful detail and intrigue, the book explores the shocking contrasts of the Tudor age, where the splendour of court life contrasted with the squalor of the overcrowded, rat-infested cities and the harsh treatment meted out to heretics and traitors, real and imagined. 
Young Henry: The Rise of Henry VIII by Robert Hutchinson. UK release April 14, 2011. Henry VIII always had problems with women. Born on 28 June 1491, he lived in the shadow of his elder brother Arthur and his dour and autocratic father, Henry VII. Elizabeth of York, Henry's mother, died when he was twelve and thereafter he lived under the thumb of his formidable grandmother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, who beneath a pious exterior was the arch-conspirator of the last days of the Wars of the Roses. Everything changed when Arthur died of tuberculosis at Ludlow Castle in 1502, less than six months after his marriage to the Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon. Henry VII died in April 1509 when his sole heir was nine weeks away from his eighteenth birthday. His grandmother acted as regent until his birthday and he married his brother's widow, Catherine on 11 June, two weeks before their joint coronation. Henry quickly swept away the musty cobwebs of his father's court. He loved magnificence, merriment and the hunting field, and could fire an arrow further than most of his professional archers. Henry could dance everyone off their feet and could drink most men under the table. But Henry became frustrated and angry at his lack of sons by Catherine and his attention began to wander. Some time in 1526 he fell passionately in love with Anne Boleyn. At the age of 35, the time for youthful frolic had ended. To achieve his heart's overpowering desire, the executions had now to begin. Young Henry provides readers with an unique and compelling vision of the splendours and tragedies of the royal court, presided over by a magnificent and ruthless monarch. 
The Ground is Burning by Samuel Black. UK release February 3, 2011. Seduction, betrayal and murder: the true art of the renaissance. Cesare Borgia, Niccolo Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci - three of the most famous, or notorious, names in European history. In the autumn of 1502, their lives intersect in a castle in Italy's Romagna. In this hugely intelligent and entertaining novel, Samuel Black tells the true story of these men who, with different tools - ruthless ambition, unstoppable genius and subtle political manipulation - each follow an obsession to attain greatness and leave a lasting mark on the world. And at the centre of this court of intrigue and deception is Dorotea Caracciolo, a young noblewoman abducted by Borgia who has become his lover - and his secret agent. Their story begins in hope and fear and ends in bloodshed, deceit and triumph. Along the way, there are battles and romances, lavish parties and furtive stranglings. And out of this maelstrom will emerge the Mona Lisa and The Prince. 
Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran. UK release March 3, 2011 (I had posted this before when another cover was released. It turns out that one is for the US: this one is for the UK). In the fourth novel from national bestselling author Michelle Moran, we depart from the ancient world and enter the gilded but troubled court of Marie Antoinette and the intriguing story of Marie Tussaud, a woman who survived the French Revolution only by creating death masks of the beheaded aristocracy. When Marie Tussaud learns the exciting news the royal family will be visiting her famed wax museum, she never dreams that the king’s sister will request her presence at Versailles, as a royal tutor in wax sculpting. As Marie familiarizes herself with Princess Elisabeth and beings to know Marie Antoinette and Louis SVI, she witnesses the glamorous life of courts, a much different world than her home on the Boulevard de Temple of Paris where bread can only be had on the black market and men sell their teeth to put food on their tables. The year is 1788 and men like Desmoulins, Marat, and Robespierre are meeting in the salons of Paris speaking against the monarchy; there’s whispered talk of revolution. Spanning five years from budding revolution to the Reign of Terror, Madame Tussaud brings us into the world of an incredible heroine whose talent for wax molding saver her life and preserved the faces of a vanished kingdom. 
The Orchid Affair by Lauren Willig. Release date January 20, 2011. This is a new cover - see previous one here .In The Orchid Affair, Willig introduces her strongest heroine yet. Laura Grey, a veteran governess, joins the Selwick Spy School expecting to find elaborate disguises and thrilling exploits in service to the spy known as the Pink Carnation. She hardly expects her first assignment to be serving as governess for the children of Andre Jaouen, right-hand man to Bonaparte's minister of police. Jaouen and his arch rival, Gaston Delaroche, are investigating a suspected Royalist plot to unseat Bonaparte, and Laura's mission is to report any suspicious findings. At first the job is as lively as Latin textbooks and knitting, but Laura begins to notice strange behavior from Jaouen-secret meetings and odd comings and goings. As Laura edges herself closer to her employer, she makes a shocking discovery and is surprised to learn that she has far more in common with Jaouen than she originally thought...
As their plots begin to unravel, Laura and Jaouen are forced on the run with the children, and with the help of the Pink Carnation they escape to the countryside, traveling as husband and wife. But Delaroche will stop at nothing to take down his nemesis. With his men hot on their trail, can Laura and Jaouen seal the fate of Europe before it's too late?
In Deliverance from Evil, Frances Hill brings her deep historical and political understanding together with her honed skills as a novelist to produce a picture of the Salem witch trials both realistic and emotional.
The Virgin Queen: A Personal History of Elizabeth I by Christopher Hilbbert. UK release (reissue) was September 8, 2010 (somehow I missed that one last week!!). The years of Elizabeth's childhood were troubled - fraught with danger and beset with the political and religious plots of those around her. At the age of two her mother, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded by her father, Henry VIII; Elizabeth was declared illegitimate and banished from the royal court. At 21, she was imprisoned in the Tower of London by her sister, Mary. And at 25 she was crowned Queen of England and Ireland, ruling as the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty until her death in 1603. The reign of Elizabeth was characterized by the virgin queen cult that grew up around her fierce independence, by her epic defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, by England's seafaring prowess personified in the figures of Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh and by the great flowering of artistic and literary creativity that was catalyzed in the plays of Shakespeare and Marlowe. In this classic biography, Christopher Hibbert paints a compelling and evocative portrait of one of history's most fascinating women, illuminated against a backdrop of the tumultuous, glorious events of the Elizabethan era - England's Golden Age. 
Crown and Country: A History of England Through the Monarchy by David Starkey. UK release September 30, 2010. This brilliant collection of biographies of Britain’s kings and queens provides an in-depth examination of what the British monarchy has meant, what it means now and what it will continue to mean. Bringing to life a cast of colourful characters, Starkey’s trademark energy and authority make him the perfect guide on this epic, accessible and compelling journey, as he offers us a vivid portrait of British culture, politics and nationhood through an institution that has defined the realm for nearly two thousand years.
I really prefer this cover of Madame Tussaud to the American version. I feel like it is more evocative of the time and the story than the US version.
September 20, 2010 4:49 PM
Dolleygurl - I have to agree with you. I think I"m going to buy this one from the UK for that reason!! The yellow US cover is striking but there's just something about it that doesn't totally appeal to me as much as this one.
September 20, 2010 6:37 PM
Deliverance from Evil and the Greg King book about Anna Anderson are going to definitely be on my autobuy pile along with Michelle Morann's book Madame Tussaud but I may buy the UK version because like you and dolleygurl I like the cover better.
September 21, 2010 9:54 AM
I just read The Ground is Burning by Samuel Black over the weekend and I LOVED it. I'm giving a copy away on my blog, if you're interested in entering to win it!
See here.
January 10, 2011 9:24 PM