This book considers the English Civil Wars and the civil wars in Scotland and Ireland through the lens of historical fictionprimarily fiction for the young. The text argues that the English Civil War lies at the heart of English and Irish political identities and considers how these identities have been shaped over the past three centuries in part by the childrens literature that has influenced the popular memory of the English Civil War. Examining nearly two hundredworks of historical fiction, Farah Mendlesohn reveals the delicate interplay between fiction and history.