SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TIMES, GUARDIAN, SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY EXPRESS, SCOTSMAN and SPECTATOR Three journeys. One road. England, 1348. A gentlewoman flees an odious arranged marriage, a Scots proctor sets out for Avignon and a young ploughman in search of freedom is on his way to volunteer with a company of archers. All come together on the road to Calais. Coming in their direction from across the Channel is the Black Death, the plague that will wipe out half of the population of Northern Europe. As the journey unfolds, overshadowed by the archers' past misdeeds and clerical warnings of the imminent end of the world, the wayfarers must confront the nature of their loves and desires. A tremendous feat of language and empathy, it summons a medieval world that is at once uncannily plausible, utterly alien and eerily reflective of our own. James Meek's extraordinary To Calais, In Ordinary Time is a novel about love, class, faith, loss, gender and desire - set against one of the biggest cataclysms of human history.

The first comprehensive history of Calais under English rule, casting new light on the development of its vigorous political and commercial society.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. How can Archaeology help us understand our contemporary world? This ground-breaking book reflects on material, visual and digital culture from the Calais “Jungle” – the informal camp where, before its destruction in October 2016, more than 10,000 displaced people lived. LANDE: The Calais 'Jungle' and Beyond reassesses how we understand ‘crisis’, activism, and the infrastructure of national borders in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, foregrounding the politics of environments, time, and the ongoing legacies of empire. Introducing a major collaborative exhibit at Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum, the book argues that an anthropological focus on duration, impermanence and traces of the most recent past can recentre the ongoing human experiences of displacement in Europe today.

In August 1347 six bare footed men knelt before King Edward III with nooses around their necks to beg for their lives and present him with the keys to Calais. This was the dramatic beginning of Calais becoming England’s first colony and an integral part of the kingdom for over two hundred years. From its capture to the present day, Calais has played a significant part in many of the major events in UK’s history whether it be in claiming the throne of France, the Field of the Cloth of Gold, the Armada, Dunkirk, D-Day deception or the Calais Jungle and Brexit. Calais, a History of England’s First Colony, describes how the destinies of England and Calais have been entwined particularly for invasions of France, then after its loss, for invasions of England. Julian Whitehead guides the reader through potentially complicated periods such as the Hundred Years War and the Wars of the Roses in his customary clear and engaging fashion. This readable book provides a fascinating overview of Anglo/French relations during the last six hundred years while bringing to life the individuals who helped to create this remarkable history.

The defence of Calais in May/June 1940 was a superb example of selfless courage and sacrifice. Sent by Churchill to divert the Germans from Dunkirk and so save the British Army, 30 Infantry Brigade had orders not to evacuate or surrender. Airey Neave, later to be Margaret Thatcher's right hand man until his assassination in 1979, was one of those who fought, was wounded and captured there and his account remains the classic.

This is the story of the Battle of Calais, a short but bloody struggle to delay the German advance in May 1940. It is a story of uncertainty, of taut nerves, of heat, dust, raging thirst and hand-to-hand fighting in the narrow streets of the channel port now known to millions of Britons as a gateway to the Continent. The guide will take the visitor beyond the ferry terminal and hypermarkets to reveal the hidden Calais and the actions of individuals and units.

Definitive account of the English garrison at Calais - the largest contemporary force in Europe - in the wider context of European warfare in the middle ages.