Chris Oswald holding a copy of 2024: A History of the Future

When history turns, ordinary lives must choose.

From the Monmouth Rebellion to an occupied Britain, Chris Oswald writes historical and alternative-history novels about power, conscience and the people caught between them.

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The Dorset Chronicles

England, 1685. Rebellion has arrived on Dorset's shores.

Across five novels, The Dorset Chronicles follow the Davenport family through seven turbulent years of rebellion, invasion, war and political retribution.

Best read in order, though each novel stands on its own.

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A New Lease on Freedom paperback on a desk beside a brass lamp and a cup of tea

Where to begin

Start with A New Lease on Freedom

In June 1685, the Duke of Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis with a small force and a claim to his father's throne. Within weeks, the West Country had risen in support. Soon afterwards, the rebellion was crushed and the reckoning began.

Thomas and Grace Davenport set out only to find a missing friend. Their search draws them into the rebellion, through its bloody aftermath and towards a marriage their century is determined to prevent.

Begin the story — £9.99
Three standalone Chris Oswald paperbacks fanned on a slate surface

Standalone novels

Four novels. Four worlds turned on their heads.

An occupied Britain. A resistance movement inside a united Europe. A different account of American independence. A corporate takeover of the Catholic Church.

Chris Oswald's standalone novels imagine history taking another path, while returning to the questions at the heart of all his work: who holds power, who challenges it and what happens to those caught between them.

Explore the standalone novels
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A Dorset stone manor house across a misty water meadow at dawn

About Chris Oswald

After close to thirty years in business, much of it spent in the United States and Scotland, Chris sold his company and moved to Dorset to write.

His novels combine the narrative sweep of Ken Follett, C. J. Sansom and Bernard Cornwell with the social observation of Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy and Evelyn Waugh.

Meet Chris