Michael Arnold

Michael Arnold is a British author of historical adventure fiction whose work is strongly associated with the English Civil War. He lives in Hampshire, a region rich in Civil War history, and developed an early interest in the past through childhood visits to castles and battlefields. His fiction combines detailed military settings with fast-moving plots, concentrating on battlefield experience, divided political loyalties and the survival of soldiers caught in the conflict between Parliament and the Crown.

Arnold is best known for the Civil War Chronicles, beginning with Traitor’s Blood and following the battle-hardened Royalist officer Captain Stryker. The series continues through Devil’s Charge, Hunter’s Rage, Assassin’s Reign, Warlord’s Gold and Marston Moor, placing its protagonist within campaigns, espionage operations and major battles of the 1640s. Devil’s Charge was selected as a Sunday Times historical-fiction book of the year. Arnold has also written stories set during the Commonwealth and Thirty Years’ War and the Savage Isle novels, which turn to warfare and resistance in ancient Britain.

Periods and events

First English Civil War, 1642–1646 Roman Conquest of Britain Commonwealth and Protectorate

Series

Series by Michael Arnold (3 series)

The Civil War Chronicles in Order

by Michael Arnold 6 books 4.3

The Civil War Chronicles follow Captain Innocent Stryker, a veteran of continental warfare who returns to England as conflict between Charles I and Parliament becomes open war. Stryker serves the Royalists through loyalty to his companions rather than unquestioning faith in the cause. His company is repeatedly used…

Traitor’s Blood

4.1

Devil’s Charge

4.3

Hunter’s Rage

4.4

Assassin’s Reign

4.3

Warlord’s Gold

4.4

Marston Moor

4.4

Savage Isle in Order

by Michael Arnold 3 books 4.2

The Savage Isle series begins in AD 42, as the death of Cunobeline fractures the political order of southern Britain and Emperor Claudius prepares a Roman invasion. Cullen, an orphan of the Atrebates captured by the Catuvellauni, grows from vulnerable outsider into a warrior whose fate is tied…

The Savage Isle

4.2

The River Warriors

4.2

The Hemlock Throne

Highwayman in Order

by Michael Arnold 3 books 4.0

The Highwayman trilogy is set in 1655–1656, after Parliament’s victory and the establishment of Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate. Major Samson Lyle is a former Roundhead officer whose disgust at the Irish campaign and conflict with the military regime have made him an outlaw. As the Ironside Highwayman, he attacks…