Books written by Anne Sebba

All Anne’s books can be ordered from any good bookshop or try theopenbook@btconnect.com which always carries a good stock of Anne’s books, foyles.co.uk or else try hive.co.uk. Recently my books have been featured on the Shepherd website.

  • Ethel Rosenberg

    Ethel Rosenberg

    • Ethel Rosenberg: New York Times bestselling author Anne Sebba’s moving biography of Ethel Rosenberg, the wife and mother whose execution for espionage-related crimes defined the Cold War and horrified the world.
    • UK Publication: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, June 2021

    Read the full synopsis

    Absolutely gripping in so many ways; beautifully written and superbly researched, a brilliant and a fresh take on a famous case.

    Simon Sebag Montefiore

    More

  • Ethel Rosenberg

    Ethel Rosenberg

    • Ethel Rosenberg: New York Times bestselling author Anne Sebba’s moving biography of Ethel Rosenberg, the wife and mother whose execution for espionage-related crimes defined the Cold War and horrified the world.
    • US Publication: St Martin’s Press, June 2021

    Read the full synopsis

    Timely, superbly written and ultimately devastating, this is an American tragedy indeed. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that has moved me more.

    Antony Horowitz, author of The Magpie Murders

    More

  • Les Parisienne UK

    Les Parisiennes

    • Les Parisiennes: What did it feel like to be a woman living in Paris from 1939 to 1949? These were years of fear, power, aggression, courage, deprivation and secrets until – finally – renewal and retribution.
    • UK Publication: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, July 2016

    Read the full synopsis

    An important retelling of Les Années Noires in Paris which puts women’s stories, and the complications of their lives under Occupation, centre stage…

    Kate Mosse, Author of Labyrinth

    More

  • Les Parisienne US

    Les Parisiennes

    Les Parisiennes: has already received a starred review in US Trade Journal Booklist

    “A fascinating account of how the buildup to WWII, the war itself, and its aftermath marked the lives of Parisian women…A standout social history.” —Booklist

     

    • Les Parisiennes: What did it feel like to be a woman living in Paris from 1939 to 1949? These were years of fear, power, aggression, courage, deprivation and secrets until – finally – renewal and retribution.
    • US Publication: St Martin’s Press, July 2016

    Read the full synopsis

    A fascinating book I couldn’t stop reading. Anne Sebba knows everything about Paris during the War. Everything about the chic, loathsome collaborators and the Holocaust victims…

    Edmund White

    More

  • That Woman

    That Woman

    • That Woman: the first full biography by a woman of the American divorce who caused a king to abdicate for love and nearly brought down the British Empire
    • UK Publication: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, August 2011

    Read the full synopsis

    Sebba’s devourable feast of highly spiced history … That Woman acquires the propulsive energy of a thriller as it advances through Wallis’s life…

    Liesl Schillinger New York Times

    More

  • That Woman

    That Woman

    • That Woman: The Duchess of Windsor and the Scandal That Brought Down a King.
      This is the US edition, St Martin’s Press published That Woman in February 2012.
    • US Publication: St Martins Press, Spring 2012

    Read the full synopsis

    This accomplished biography is smart, eloquent, and unafraid to go beyond the myth of the Duchess of Windsor.

    Publishers Weekly (US)

    More

  • Jennie Churchill

    Jennie Churchill

    • Jennie Churchill: Chosen as one of the ten best biographies by the Independent in 2008.
    • UK Publication: John Murray, September 2007

    Read the full synopsis

    Anne Sebba tells the story of Lady Randolph Churchill with verve and skill, treading her way through a fascinating life…

    Sir Martin Gilbert,
    official biographer
    of Sir Winston Churchill

    More

  • American Jennie

    American Jennie

    • American Jennie: The American edition of the story of Winston Churchill’s mother.
    • US Publication: of American Jennie: The Remarkable Life of Winston Churchill’s Mother, WW Norton, November 2007

    Read the full synopsis

    In a vibrant biography, Anne Sebba furnishes all the right details in the life story of a woman who may only be a footnote to history but…

    New York Daily News, November 11, 2007

    More

  • the exiled collector

    The Exiled Collector

    • The Exiled Collector: The poignant story
      of how William Bankes, friend of Byron and the Duke of Wellington, caught in compromising circumstances in Green Park, turned his personal tragedy into posterity’s benefit by creating a country house gem from exile in Italy.
    • UK Publication: John Murray 2004

    Read the full synopsis
    Buy on Dovecote Press

    This wonderful book… Anne Sebba has written this record of exquisite taste and brutal suffering with equal measures of verve,
    tact and eloquence.

    Edmund White

    More

  • Mother Teresa Beyond the Image

    Mother Teresa Beyond the Image

    • Mother Teresa Beyond the Image: A book that moves beyond the polarised images of a saint in an attempt to understand the phenomenon of the Albanian nun.
    • UK Publication: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1997
    • US Publication: Doubleday US 1997

    Read the full synopsis

    A “must read” for those interested in the debate between religious
    and secular belief.

    Krishna Dutta,
    The Times Higher Education Supplement

    More

  • Battling for news cover

    Battling for News

    • Battling for News – the rise of the Woman Reporter: Women Reporters from the Risorgimento to Tiananmen Square.
      A history of women reporters who braved dangerous conflicts and changed the way wars are reported today.
    • UK Publication: John Curtis book: Hodder & Stoughton 1994
    • This edition Faber Finds 2010

    Read the full synopsis
    Buy on Faber Finds

    Anne Sebba offers convincing answers without resorting to polemic.

    Roy Greenslade, The Guardian

    More

  • laura ashley cover

    Laura Ashley: A life by Design

    • Laura Ashley: A life by Design: Biography of the businesswoman and designer who had a profound influence on how 20th century women dressed and decorated their homes.
    • UK Publication: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1990
    • This edition Faber Finds 2010

    Read the full synopsis
    Buy on Faber Finds

    This is a moving book. Anne Sebba has written a vivid, true story. She writes with frankness and without frills.

    Lady Henderson, Sunday Telegraph

    More

  • enid bagnol cover

    Enid Bagnold

    • Enid Bagnold A Life: A biography of one of the most gifted
      and active woman of her generation who, as a girl, tried to bend society’s rules. Best known as the author of National Velvet and The Chalk Garden.
    • UK Publication: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1987
    • This edition Faber Finds 2010

    Read the full synopsis
    Buy on Faber Finds

    I know of no other book with a theatrical background which gives such an absorbing picture of what it is like to be involved in the production of plays.

    Terence de Vere White, The Irish Times 1986

    More

  • Samplers cover

    Samplers: Five Centuries
    of a Gentle Craft

    • Samplers: A history of needlework that explains how women for centuries have used their talents to embellish their homes.
    • UK Publication: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1979
    • US Publication: Thames and Hudson 1980

    Read the full synopsis
    Buy via email

    An important contribution to the history of domestic crafts, ‘Samplers’ will appeal to all those anxious to preserve a unique cultural heritage.

    More