Another blockbuster arrives from the professor (emeritus) of Christian history at Cambridge (Reformation Dividedby Eamon Duffy, Bloomsbury, £30). This time it is a collection of 14 pieces, all but two of them first published in learned journals over the years and now reworked and/or expanded.

Reformation Divided begins with two powerful essays defending Thomas More against his many recent detractors (including Hilary Mantel and her lamentable Wolf Hall). It ends with a dazzling piece on George Fox, founder of the Quakers. And in between is a galaxy of clever offerings.