Time Traveller's Guide to Restoration Britain

Charles II is back. London is burning. Modern Britain is taking shape. The monarchy is restored, Charles II has returned and Britain between 1660 and 1700 is changing at remarkable speed. Samuel Pepys records the age, the Great Fire transforms London, Christopher Wren rebuilds its skyline and Isaac Newton helps alter how people understand the universe. Ian Mortimer asks what all this would mean to you if you were to travel there. Where would you stay? What would you eat? What should you wear? How would you travel, shop, find entertainment or cope with illness? Using diaries, travel accounts, legal records, household evidence and contemporary statistics, he reconstructs a society moving between centuries-old habits and sudden innovations in science, commerce, fashion and finance. Restoration Britain remains unequal, superstitious and often dangerous, but curiosity and experiment are changing its assumptions. By treating the past as a destination rather than a display case, Mortimer reveals an age and a people, who in the practical details of their daily lives may be more familiar than we would expect. ‘Ian Mortimer is a historical truffle hound… His book is a delightful read.’ Sunday Times