Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!

Last week, I wrote about virtual tours provided by London Walks, including the one that I’m signed up for on Sunday,  The London of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol. Marg of The Intrepid Reader enjoyed one of my favorite novels of recent years, Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce.

This is the third Black Friday in a row that I’ve reviewed a book that I think would make a great gift for any fan of British-themed books. I guess it’s now a tradition!

• From 2023: Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village by Maureen Johnson & Jay Cooper
• From 2024: London: A Guide for Curious Wanderers by Jack Chesher

For 2025, I’m bringing you a book by my favorite British history YouTuber, J. Draper. I reviewed her channel a couple of years ago, highlighting some of her most memorable videos. A couple of months ago, I shared her video about Brits drowning out fascist ideas in the 1970s because I found it inspiring.

The author of last year’s Black Friday selection has a blurb on the back of the book I’m reviewing today:

Jenny is a master-storyteller. ~Jack Chesher

Book: Mavericks: Life Stories and Lessons of History’s Most Extraordinary Misfits by Jenny Draper
Genre: Nonfiction
Publisher: Watkins Publishing
Publication date: 2025

Source: Hardback purchased pre-publication

Summary: The subtitle captures the gist of Mavericks. This is a collection of short fun descriptions of unusual people.

Given the expertise of the author, this book has a UK slant. Here’s how Draper describes her selection process:

I’ve borne in mind the limits of my knowledge and kept myself to subjects with connections to the UK, my home country, and the place whose history I know the best. That doesn’t mean they’re all British — we have Americans like Ira Aldridge and Paul Robeson; Africans like James Chuma and Abdullah David Susi; and even some from the distant, exotic land of France, La Chevalière d’Éon–but knowing that I won’t be able to do justice to a whole globe’s worth of mavericks, I’ve stuck to ones who at least visited Britain at some point.

Thoughts: Many of the mavericks described in this book were new to me, but it was also fun to encounter a few people I know.

The long form of the story of Ellen and William Craft was told in Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo. But Draper managed to add a couple of details that I don’t remember from Woo’s book.

I learned about Noor Inayat Khan, the World War II spy radio operator, from the film A Call to Spy.

I have heard of Lady Hester Stanhope, but knew little beyond the label “lady adventurer.” Draper gives splendid details plus helpful context to her story.

Of course, the most fun entries were the ones about people I never heard of.

Agnes, the Countess of Dunbar, protected her castle from a siege while her husband was away fighting a different battle. This quote provided useful context and a different perspective on women’s history:

Agnes isn’t the only medieval lady who fought in battle. Although war in this period is primarily considered a man’s activity, a perhaps surprisingly large number of noblewomen also get stuck into the fray. This is because of how the job of a noble is seen at the time. Medieval writers divide people into three classes, not by how much they earn, but by their role in society. So instead of working class, middle class and upper class, we have “those who work” (farmers), “those who pray” (the clergy), and “those who fight” (the nobles). Ideally, each class supports the others. Those who work feed everyone, those who pray save everyone’s souls, and those who fight keep everyone safe. Therefore, if you are a member of the nobility, your entire job is to go to war to protect the people who live in your territory. And if you’re a bloke, then you’ll be trained for it from a young age, but when there are no men around, the women in this class are expected to step up too.

Appeal: Mavericks is the perfect book to pick up for a quick look at another interesting person and maybe read a bit aloud at a holiday gathering for general discussion.