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Published Apr 2023
272 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
This extraordinary true story transports us to Tudor and Stuart England as Alice Spencer, the daughter of an upstart sheep farmer, becomes one of the most powerful women in the country and establishes a powerful dynasty that endures to this day. Perfect for fans of The Duchess Countess and Georgiana.
Alice Spencer was born in 1560 to a family on the rise. Her grandfather had amassed a sizeable estate of fertile grazing land and made a small fortune in sheep farming, allowing him to purchase a simple but distinguished manor house called Althorp.
With her sizable dowry, Alice married the heir to one of the most powerful aristocratic families in the country, eventually becoming the Countess of Derby. Though she enjoyed modest renown, it wasn't until her husband's sudden death (after he turned in a group of Catholics for plotting against Queen Elizabeth I) that Alice and her family's future changed forever.
Faced with a lawsuit from her brother-in-law over her late husband's fortune, Alice raised eyebrows by marrying England's most powerful lawyer. Together, they were victorious, and Alice focused her attentions on securing appropriate husbands for her daughters, increasing her land ownings, and securing a bright future for her grandchildren and the entire Spencer family. But they would not completely escape scandals, and as the matriarch, Alice had to face an infamous trial that threatened everything she had worked so hard for.
Now, the full story of the remarkable Alice Spencer Stanley Egerton is revealed in this comprehensive and colorful biography. A woman both ahead of and part of her time, Alice's ruthless challenging of the status quo has inspired future generations of Spencers and will change the way you view Tudor women.
"Engrossing and well-researched...This biography fascinates." ―Publishers Weekly
"Diligent archival research reveals a unique, independent Elizabethan woman." ―Kirkus Reviews
"With extensive notes, a bibliography, an index, and helpful genealogical trees, this snapshot of history is one to savor." —Library Journal
"An engrossing, fast-paced, extremely well-researched biography...Views on the role of Tudor women are challenged in this devourable text, perfect for readers of biography, history, women's history, and anyone interested in the ancestors of Princess Diana." —Booklist
"Engrossing, gracefully written, and expertly researched – Vanessa Wilkie has recreated the rise of a Renaissance woman of substance from archival fragments. Anyone who enjoyed the machinations of Wolf Hall will relish the shrewd navigator of choppy, dynastic waters who emerges here." —Professor Amanda Vickery, FBA, Queen Mary University of London
"Alice Spencer has long defied biographers, but no more. In a brilliantly researched, fast-paced narrative, Vanessa Wilkie uncovers the tumultuous life of an extraordinary woman who rose from humble origins to catapult herself and her family into the highest ranks of English society. A literary connoisseur and John Milton's first patron, she was as astute in defining taste and fashion as in managing men and weathering the storms of dynastic politics, litigation and scandal. A must-read for anyone interested in early modern England and the ancestry of Princess Diana." —John Guy and Julia Fox, co-authors of the forthcoming Hunting the Falcon: King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.
"Here is the marvelously engrossing story of a singular woman in extraordinary times. Through her meticulous recreation of Alice Spencer's long life, Vanessa Wilkie conjures up the ruthless and mesmerizing world of Tudor England — and all the wealth and power, art and sex, greed and heartache of its ruling dynasties." —Fara Dabhoiwala, Professor, Princeton University, author of The Origins of Sex
This information about A Woman of Influence was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Vanessa Wilkie is the William A. Moffett Curator of Medieval Manuscripts and British History at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. She has a PhD in British history and gender history and an MA in public history from the University of California, Riverside. She lives in Los Angeles. A Woman of Influence is her first book.
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