Quarrel with the King: The Story of an English Family on the High Road to Civil War

In Quarrel with the King, Adam Nicolson, the bestselling author of God’s Secretaries and Seize the Fire, explores questions of loyalty, power, betrayal, and rebellion, as witnessed through the life and times of one of England’s richest and most influential families. Spanning the most turbulent and dramatic years of English history—from the 1520s to 1650—Quarrel with the King tells the story of four generations of the Pembroke family, following their glamorous trajectory across 130 years of change, ambition, resistance, and war, culminating in rebellion against the king. |

Spanning the most turbulent and dramatic years of English history—from the 1520s through 1650—Quarrel with the King tells the remarkable saga of one of the greatest families in English history, the Pembrokes, following their glamorous trajectory across three generations of change, ambition, resistance, and war. With vivid color and fascinating detail, acclaimed historian Adam Nicolson recounts the story of a century-long power struggle between England's richest family and the English Crown—a fascinating study of divided loyalties, corruption, rights and privilege, and all the ambiguities involved in the exercise and maintenance of power and status.

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“A superb book, beautifully written, subtle, passionate, questioning, mind-altering and wise.” - Daily Mail (London)

“A moving account of the Elizabethan golden age, retold through the varying fortunes of the Pembroke family, and a tour de force. . . . A brilliantly imaginative and beautifully written coup of scholarship.” - The Observer (London)

“Absorbing. . . . Wonderful, lyrical and contemplative.” - The Guardian

“This is a rich, informative and original book.” - Noel Malcolm, Daily Telegraph (London)

Typically supple and elegant prose. . . . Nicolson highlights the ambiguous nature of this most powerful of dynasties. . . . For fans of the Tudor and Stuart ear, this will be a welcome treat.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Beautifully written and finely balanced. . . . A disarmingly readable contribution to the history of ideas. . . . An elegant, thoughtful, imaginative book about the need for dreams and the ugliness of modernisation. . . . His book will give abiding pleasure.” - Sunday Times (London)