With such concentration on the Tudors onwards, the English risk losing sight of their nation's roots. Ice to Athelstan fills that gap by presenting the story of the country's origins in a succinct and accessible way.

In twelve short chapters the book covers some 10,000 years from the time of the last Ice Age, when Britain was a frozen desert, until the short reign of the first king of England. It tells the story of who came, when, from where, why, and what effect they had, as the country was populated, taken over, abandoned, contested and assaulted before the House of Wessex prevailed. In the process it examines the emergent England's links with Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Scandinavia as England's neighbours underwent their own national evolution.

In bringing together a summary of how England emerged, Ice to Athelstan delves deeper into many of the underlying issues, such as the significance of Iron Age monuments, the extent to which people changed or were replaced, the growth of early tribes and kingdoms, and the origins and actions of the successive waves of incomers who went to make up the country's 10th century population.