Reviewed by Sue Nicholson
28 April 2026

It must be tricky to write successful historical fiction. One anachronism, one inaccuracy, and the reader’s trust may be lost. Background details and dialogue must sound right and be sketched in with a light touch; the reader isn’t interested in the hours of research you have put in. We want a good read, not a dissertation.
Continue reading…

Reviewed by Sue Nicholson
4 August 2025

Pepys’ record of his daily life experiences may have begun as a form of self-reflection, taking time at the end of each day to weigh up events. Among the details of business at the Navy Office, money earned and spent, food and drink, trips to the theatre and his enjoyment of music, there are also some frank descriptions of his many extramarital liaisons.
Continue reading…

30 April 2025

Guy de la Bedoyere has filmed an interesting review of Kate Loveman’s fascinating new book about the history of the diary for his YouTube channel.
Continue reading…

Reviewed by Sue Nicholson
16 January 2025

This fascinating and very readable book focuses on food and drink in Pepys’s diary. The author begins with a section on the “Culinary Encyclopaedia” taken from the online Diary and detailing, as Pepys does, the dishes he often ate, the drinks he consumed, where and with whom.
Continue reading…

Reviewed by Jan Kemp
28 February 2023

This site has a number of members whose depth of knowledge and willingness to share insights gives us a privileged inside track on the diaries and their times. I imagine, however, that there are also lots of members like myself who have an outline grasp of 17th Century politics and literature but would like to understand more of what it was like to live through that tumultuous period and don’t quite know where to start. This book may help.
Continue reading…

Reviewed by Sue Nicholson
13 November 2021

In 1682 a fleet of eight ships set sail from London to Edinburgh carrying James, Duke of York north to reunite with his wife Mary of Modena. Charles II was by now an ageing monarch, in poor health. He wanted to establish his younger brother and sister-in-law as rightful heirs to the throne, and with all due haste. Mary was pregnant and despite their Catholic religion…
Continue reading…

Reviewed by Jeremy Ettinghausen
7 May 2021

As someone who has lived in and walked around and explored London their whole life, I did wonder how revelatory it would be to take fairly familiar walks with an unfamiliar guide. Having now followed two of the routes proposed by Jacky Colliss Harvey in her excellent guide to ‘Walking Pepys’s London’ , I realize that my capital nous is mainly geographical surface knowledge…
Continue reading…

Written by Phil Gyford
18 August 2020

Reader Scott Mathias recently got in touch having bought a document signed by Samuel Pepys. It appears to be the “bill of exchange” mentioned by Pepys in his entry for 31 July 1667. Scott was kind enough to let us reproduce the document here…
Continue reading…

Reviewed by Sue Nicholson
18 June 2020

Danielle Bobker is Associate Professor, English Department, Concordia University, Montreal. In this book she examines the phenomenon of the “closet” in the long 18th century as a catch-all term for a range of intimate spaces. She considers the social significance of choosing closet companions, of privileged access, as well as the opportunities afforded for gossip…
Continue reading…

Written by Phil Gyford
14 April 2019

A while back I asked for some questions to put to Dr Kate Loveman, who has written a lot about Pepys over the years. We had some great questions, and I added a couple of my own, and Dr Loveman has provided some fascinating answers…
Continue reading…

Reviewed by Sue Nicholson
8 March 2018

Written by acclaimed naval historian J. D. Davies, this book won the Samuel Pepys Award in 2009. Davies has marshalled a formidable range and depth of information in this book, which he has arranged with almost Pepysian clarity and method. There are thirteen parts, each subdivided into several chapters…
Continue reading…

Reviewed by Mike Paterson
3 September 2017

Over on the London Historians’ Blog there’s [a review of ‘The Curious World of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn’ by Margaret Willes. In lieu of our own review of the book I thought it worth linking to this one, by Mike Paterson.
Continue reading…

Reviewed by Sue Nicholson
13 November 2016

Mens cuiusque is est quisque: the mind is the man. Pepys adopted this quote from Cicero as his motto in later life. He had bookplates made featuring the Latin inscription beneath a portrait of himself in flourishing middle age. Always conscious of his public persona (some would say always a social climber)…
Continue reading…

Reviewed by Sue Nicholson
19 August 2016

Not a book for serious academics, this is a fast-paced bit of Pepysian fantasy in which Sam and Will Hewer set out to retrieve a necklace and the last volume of the diary, which have been stolen in mysterious circumstances.
Continue reading…

Written by Sue Nicholson
9 February 2016

With its current exhibition, the National Maritime Museum invites us to “Step into the curious and chaotic world of history’s greatest witness”. If you have the slightest curiosity about Pepys, the “curious man”, as John Evelyn described him, this is an opportunity not to be missed.
Continue reading…