Looking for a beginners book to the history of English Language

by OriginalBoring6183

I have just read Bill Bryson's 'The Mother Tongue' which I found incredibly interesting. When I checked out the reviews on Amazon/Goodreads, all top reviews were 1 star pointing out errors in the text.

Is there a better book I can read on the subject?

Alkibiades415

Gramley, Stephan. 2019. The history of English: an introduction. Routledge.

it's from a respected academic publisher, and it is (for once) available online for less than $50

Fennell, B. 2001. A history of English: a sociolinguistic approach. Oxford. - ditto and ditto, with a slightly different approach.