Toby Clements

Toby Clements is a British journalist and historical novelist, formerly the literary editor of the Daily Telegraph. His interest in the Wars of the Roses began during a school visit to Tewkesbury Abbey, associated with the decisive Yorkist victory of 1471. Subsequent research included studying medieval material culture, attending historical re-enactments and learning practical skills such as longbow shooting and fighting with a pollaxe. Rather than concentrating exclusively on kings and nobles, Clements became particularly interested in the resilience and resourcefulness of ordinary people living through fifteenth-century warfare.

Clements is best known for the four-volume Kingmaker series: Winter Pilgrims, Broken Faith, Divided Souls and Kingdom Come. The novels follow Thomas and Katherine Everingham as they become caught between the rival houses of York and Lancaster, providing a ground-level account of battles, political reversals and daily survival during the Wars of the Roses. His later novel A Good Deliverance turns to Sir Thomas Malory, presenting an imagined account of the troubled soldier, outlaw and prisoner traditionally credited with writing Le Morte Darthur.