PH Vengeance and violence take centre stage in our selection of the finest new historical novels

A Column Of Fire by Ken Follett (Macmillan, £20) Ned returns to Kingsbridge from the continent in 1558 to find the girl he loves is betrothed to the son of the cruel Earl of Shiring and the town is under his control. But when Ned becomes Elizabeth I’s most trusted spy, the tables begin to turn. This triumphant saga, begun almost 30 years ago with The Pillars Of The Earth, moves across England to Scotland, France and the New World, and tells the stories of men and women, good and evil, monarch and pauper, caught up in tumultuous years of religious conflict and political violence.

Treason’s Spring by Robert Wilton (Corvus, £18.99) It is 1792 and the streets of Paris run with blood. In these early days of the French Revolution, ministers jockey for power, and even survival, while their wives play an elaborate social game. Chief French spy Fouché is determined to track down the imprisoned King’s lost and incriminating correspondence. But spies are also on the hunt for these valuable secrets. In this engrossing novel, cleverly presented as the archives of Britain’s intelligence service, spies and their lovers, masters and victims tell the most fascinating tale.

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Kingdom Come by Toby Clements (Century, £20) It is 1470 and after years of civil war, England is finally at peace. Then Thomas Everingham discovers a plot by the Earl of Warwick to overthrow King Edward IV, the Wars of the Roses flare up once more, and Thomas and his wife Katherine must run for their lives. Culminating in the decisive battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, this exhilarating novel concludes Clements’ superb Kingmaker series. His portrait of Edward, a king in exile, stands out as does his spine-chilling depiction of medieval warfare and surgery.