It took three days for the outcome of the battle of Waterloo to reach London. Described by Sir Tony Robinson as 'a fascinating eye-opener', this book draws on untapped records to reveal the story of how the momentous news was brought from the battlefield via feverish horseback journeys, a Channel crossing delayed by falling tides and a flat calm, and the final dash by coach-and-four from the Kent coast to a grand soirée in St James's Square.

Daniel Defoe's famous castaway has been etched into the popular imagination for three centuries. This account of the real island – Juan Fernández Island in the South Pacific – draws on the voyage journals, maps and illustrations of visiting sailors, scientists, writers and artists to reveal its colourful and often violent history, from the early encounters of the 1500s to the naval battles of the First World War, and the devastating tsunami of 2010.