Lion of the Sun Harry Sidebottom (Michael Joseph, £14.99) Sidebottom is the best in the business — an Oxford classicist whose series of novels are crashing into the best-seller lists. In this, his third in the Warrior of Rome series, his hero Ballista is wielding his sword against Persian barbarians who have captured the Emperor Valerian. It’s a long hard road for the iron general, a great creation by Sidebottom in this festival of blood and thunder.

Sacred Treason James Forrester (Headline Review, £12.99) When Elizabethan master-spy Walsingham has an interest in you, be very afraid. Right from the start of this Catholic-oriented novel, Forrester portrays fear in the Tudor arena. Walsingham is after a mysterious chronicle passed to king of arms Clarenceux — thus begins a story of betrayal and torture. This foray into Tudor cultural secrets is unrivalled in prose and plot.

Empire of Silver Conn Iggulden (Harper Collins, £18.99) Iggulden’s creative narrative talent has been recognised since his Emperor series on Rome. His Genghis Khan series has only reinforced this view. This is the fourth of the Mongol Empire stories, centring on rivalry for the crown after the great khan’s death and the conquest of Europe. Iggulden’s brilliance peppers every page.

Heartstone C.J. Sansom (Mantle, £18.99) If you have followed the adventures of Shardlake — featuring here in his fifth exploration of Tudor times — you will have been in the company of a hunchback lawyer pursuing truth in a cauldron of cruelty. Sansom’s resourcefulness is on display here in all its glory, as befits the towering times of Henry VIII, who is raising money and militia to ward off the French fleet after his disastrous invasion of France. Another lesson in history for all of us.