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Published Apr 2011
688 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
One of today's premier historical novelists, Margaret George dazzles here as she tackles her most difficult subject yet: the legendary Elizabeth Tudor, queen of enigma - the Virgin Queen who had many suitors, the victor of the Armada who hated war; the gorgeously attired, jewel-bedecked woman who pinched pennies. England's greatest monarch has baffled and intrigued the world for centuries. But what was she really like?
In this novel, her flame-haired, lookalike cousin, Lettice Knollys, thinks she knows all too well. Elizabeth's rival for the love of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and mother to the Earl of Essex, the mercurial nobleman who challenged Elizabeth's throne, Lettice had been intertwined with Elizabeth since childhood. This is a story of two women of fierce intellect and desire, one trying to protect her country, and throne, the other trying to regain power and position for her family and each vying to convince the reader of her own private vision of the truth about Elizabeth's character. Their gripping drama is acted out at the height of the flowering of the Elizabethan age. Shakespeare, Marlowe, Dudley, Raleigh, Drake - all of them swirl through these pages as they swirled through the court and on the high seas.
This is a magnificent, stay-up-all-night page-turner that is George's finest and most compelling novel and one that is sure to please readers of Alison Weir, Philippa Gregory, and Hilary Mantel.
"George's writing is of an older, more formal style; neither cinematic nor intimately personal... This is a book that would be treasured by history buffs but may try the patience of casual readers." - Library Journal
"Starred Review. Like her heroine, George possesses an eye for beauty and a knack for detail, creating a vibrant story... Rather than turn Elizabeth I into a romantic heroine, George painstakingly reveals a monarch who defined an era." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. George's mastery of period detail and her sure navigation through the rocky shoals of Elizabethan politics mean this lengthy novel never flags." - Booklist
"Historically sound, but without the sympathetic spark of the best historical fiction." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about Elizabeth I 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.
Margaret George is the author of six biographical novels, including The Memoirs of Cleopatra, Mary Called Magdalene, and Elizabeth I: A Novel. Her latest work of epic historical fiction is The Confessions of Young Nero (Berkley), the first part of a duology taking a more sympathetic look at the trials and tribulations of the infamous Roman Emperor. The novel seeks to resurrect Nero as a complicated man caught between ruling a vast empire and indulging in his passions for art, Hellenistic games and the women he loved.
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