Born in the West Highlands of Scotland, Anna was educated at Oban High School in Argyll and Bedales in Hampshire. She read history at Magdalen College, Oxford and took her PhD at the University of London. From 1996 to 2002 Anna worked as a curator for Historic Royal Palaces, which looks after the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace and the Banqueting House in Whitehall. From 2002 until 2012 she was Properties Presentation Director of English Heritage, responsible for curating and presenting to the public 420 historic sites across England, from Stonehenge to Kenwood House. She is now Director of The Landmark Trust.
'The remarkable thing about Keay's narrative is how colourful it is ... Her narrative brims with life, colour, humour and humanity ... A dazzling achievement, and I loved every page' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times 'This is an exceptional book about an exceptional time ... In a series of meticulously researched and deftly drawn character studies ... Keay brilliantly conveys what it was like to live amid the contrasts and contradictions, the heady optimism and the bleak despair, of that tumultuous age ... A triumph. It is hard to imagine a better introduction to the volatile world of the 1650s' John Adamson, author of The Noble Revolt 'An exceptional feat of imagination. Never have the kingless years been made so vivid, and never has vividness contributed so much to the understanding of them. Keay has brought off an ingenious literary experiment... An entrancing achievement' Blair Worden, TLS 'Deft, confident, deeply learned and provocative, underpinned by an extraordinary sense of the landscape and the architecture ... Anna Keay traces with fierce intelligence the remarkable and restless lives' Rory Stewart '[A] vivid panorama ... Keay conjures up with nuance and panache the single most fascinating decade in the history of Britain and Ireland, revealing it to be at once weirdly ancient and strangely modern' Paul Lay, The Times 'Keay offers us a world turned upside down; but also a world made real. That's a remarkable achievement' Adrian Tinniswood, Sunday Telegraph ***** 'Keay skilfully navigates the reader through the complex history of the 1650s ... It is a remarkable achievement, broad-ranging in both geographical and intellectual scope and impressively even-handed in its judgements'Edward Vallance, Literary Review 'Wonderful.... Tells the story of how the British and Irish people came to be who they are' Clive Myrie