Noble Endeavours: The life of two countries, England and Germany, in many stories - Tapa dura

'[Seymour's] account of the First World War is both riveting and moving... a gripping read and a new and strangely uplifting perspective on relations between these two countries' Literary Review

'Most readable and compulsive... By writing her book as a patchwork of individual tales, Seymour allows this story of torn loyalties and proliferating influences to retain its messiness and its colour' Guardian

'Miranda Seymour's thesis in her hugely entertaining and absorbing study Noble Endeavours, which keeps the political, military and diplomatic dimensions as a framework and focuses on two centuries of personal relationships, families and friendships to make the case' Daily Telegraph

'Seymour's high-minded, wide-ranging new history... is a gallery of pen portraits of those who, over four centuries, have happily crossed between England and Germany with little sense of strain or antagonism, only admiration and fondness' Sunday Times

'Miranda Seymour deserves to be hailed for her courage, generosity, imagination and decency' Observer

'Seymour's masterstroke is to engage and teach us by letting the stories of real people shine through... a timely reminder of a delicate, deeply felt relationship between two countries' Daily Express

'An impressive work and a welcome balance to the plethora of histories of the two world wars' The Spectator

'Noble Endeavours expands like an accordion, stories opening into more stories, and the whole propelled by prose that is lean and intricate. The book, which could be read for style alone, is an education and a handshake not only with the past, but with the present. A noble endeavour, indeed' Telegraph

'Seymour provides an eloquent, perceptive and often moving account of that broader, longer and more benign sweep of history' The Times

'Noble Endeavours is indeed a noble endeavour, encyclopaedic in its scope, beautifully organised and written, and very moving, as these two cousinly nations are driven asunder by war. A wonderful subject' Michael Frayn

'An ambitious study' The Lady

'An arresting account of a complex and multi-faceted subject' Country Life

'Miranda Seymour's research is meticulous, and many of her vignettes are lively and perceptive' Caroline Moorehead, Times Literary Supplement

'This is an impressive, meticulously researched and thought-provoking history... the book is indeed a noble endeavor, worth of admiration' History Today

'Miranda Seymour celebrates the old bond [Anglo-German relations] through the lives of diplomats, artists, musicians, political refugees and migrant workers with energy, enthusiasm and affection. An absorbing, heartening read' --Tablet

In 1613 a beautiful Stuart princess married a handsome young German prince. This was a love match, but it was also an alliance that aimed to weld together Europe's two great Protestant powers. Before Elizabeth and Frederick left London for the court in Heidelberg, they watched a performance of The Winter's Tale. In 1943, a group of British POWS gave a performance of that same play to a group of enthusiastic Nazi guards in Bavaria. When the amateur actors suggested doing a version of The Merchant of Venice that showed Shylock as the hero, the guards brought in the costumes and helped create the sets. Nothing about the story of England and Germany, as this remarkable book demonstrates, is as simple as we might expect. A shared faith, a shared hunger for power, a shared culture (Germany never doubted that Shakespeare belonged to them, as much as to England); a shared leadership. German monarchs ruled over England for three hundred years - and only ceased to do so through a change of name. Miranda Seymour has written a rich and heart-breaking story that needs to be heard: the vibrant, extraordinary history - told through the lives of kings and painters, soldiers and sailors, sugar-bakers and bankers, charlatans and saints - of two countries so entwined that one man, asked for his allegiance in 1916, said he didn't know because it felt as though his parents had quarrelled. Thirteen years of Nazi power can never be forgotten. But should thirteen years blot out four centuries of a profound, if rivalrous, friendship? Speaking in 1984, a remarkable Jew who fought for Germany in one war and for England in the next called for an end to the years of mistrust. Quarter of a century later, that mistrust remains as strong as ever and Hitler remains Germany's most familiar face. The stories that Miranda Seymour has recovered from a wealth of unpublished material and exceptional sources, remind us, poignantly, wittily and tragically, of all that we have chosen to forget.