Richard Francis was educated at Cambridge and Harvard. He has written 17 books, both fiction and nonfiction, including a number of books on American history and thought. His award-winning novels and books of nonfiction have been published by leading houses in London and New York, including Fourth Estate, Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, W.W. Norton, Faber & Faber, and Pantheon. He and his wife live in Bath.
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Richard Francis
All Richard Francis's books
Latest reviews
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“Richard Francis is one of the UK’s most underrated novelists.”— The Huffington Post, Sep 30 2020![]()
“I haven't been so sorry to finish a novel for a long time. I think it's a triumph.”— Samantha Harvey, Sep 1 2020![]()
“Delivered with such imagination and chutzpah […] The pleasure of Laura Laura is in its robust – even fun – approach to serious stuff.— The Critic, Aug 31 2020![]()
“Elegantly written, humorous and perfect in its evocation of a flickering past.”— The Tatler, Aug 26 2020![]()
“Funny, moving, absorbing, thought-provoking[…]. I read this book in a state of almost continuous delight.”— Shiny New Books, Aug 18 2020![]()
“The novel is … full of memorable aperçus — particularly strikingly when it evokes ‘that alchemy which transforms anxiety, failure or disaster into the safety of anecdote’ … There’s a certain alchemy in writing that can transform themes of anxiety, failure or disaster...— The Spectator, Aug 15 2020![]()
I cannot recommend this wonderful novel highly enough. The author’s comprehensive research into this period of history, and his fascination with Sewell, informs all his narrative and yet I never felt that it overwhelmed the sensitive story-telling.— Nudge Book, Feb 15 2017![]()
“[CRANE POND] gives a complete world-picture, offers the reader an alternative place to go and live for a time, and a new language to speak.”— Hilary Mantel, Jan 18 2017![]()
The notorious 17th-century trials get yet another fictional outing in Richard Francis’s bewitching novel, Crane Pond— The Spectator, Nov 4 2016![]()
Historical fictions about the Salem Witch Trials of 1692-1693 have often been reduced to political or moral allegory, stand-ins for McCarthyism, send-ups of Puritanism, or cautionary tales of pietism gone wrong. The judges never come off well. In Crane Pond, Richard Francis creates...— Historical Novel Society, Nov 2 2016![]()
“I desire to be humbled before God. It was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time. I did not do it out of anger, malice, or ill-will,” stated Ann Putnam in 1706. When only twelve or so, she had been one of the principle witnesses and accusers in the notorious...— Bookanista, Nov 1 2016![]()
This is one of my favourite reads this season and it's perfect for Halloween as it follows Sewall and his family, as well as the community, before, during and after the famous Salem witch trials. This is fiction so it isn't about the specific facts and events of the trials but...— Of Beauty and Nothingness, Nov 1 2016![]()
Fans of Stacy Schiff's meticulous research of The Witches: Salem, 1692 and Oliver Pötzsch's solemn tone in The Hangman's Daughter will relish this well-imagined personal journey.— Library Journal, Oct 26 2016![]()
Richard Francis (Judge Sewall's Apology) turns to historical fiction to tell the story of a Salem witch trials judge from a personal perspective. Crane Pond is an intimate look at this 17th-century American colonist, who married the first black couple in Boston, was a devoted...— Shelf Awareness, Oct 25 2016
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