You wouldn’t guess from the cover design—three songbirds silhouetted over swatches of picturesque Englishness—but Catherine Clarke’s A History of England in 25 Poems hits one of its sweet spots with a

Catherine Clarke A History of England in 25 Poems400pp. Allen Lane. £25. Mark Forsyth Rhyme and ReasonA short history of poetry and people (forpeople who don’t usually read poetry)368pp. Allen & Unwin

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by Heather Rose (£20, HB, John Murray) Set in the wild, untamed beauty of 1840s Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), this sweeping historical novel follows Caroline, a courageous and determined woman carving