Charles II: The Star King (Penguin Monarchs)

Charles II has always been one of the most instantly recognizable British kings—both in his physical appearance, disseminated through endless portraits, prints, and pub signs, and in his complicated mix of lasciviousness, cynicism, and luxury. His father's execution and his own many years of exile made him a guarded, curious, unusually self-conscious ruler. He lived through some of the most striking events in the UK's national history—from the Civil Wars to the Great Plague, from the Fire of London to the wars with the Dutch. Clare Jackson's marvelous book takes full advantage of its irrepressible subject.