Product Description

In her highly praised The Six Wives of Henry VIII and its sequel, Children of England, Alison Weir examined the private lives of the early Tudor kings and queens, and chronicled the childhood and youth of one of England's most successful monarchs, Elizabeth I. This book begins as the young Elizabeth ascends the throne in the wake of her sister Mary's disastrous reign. Elizabeth is portrayed as both a woman and a queen, an extraordinary phenomenon in a patriarchal age. Alison Weir writes of Elizabeth's intriguing, long-standing affair with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, of her dealings - sometimes comical, sometimes poignant - with her many suitors, of her rivalry with Mary, Queen of Scots, and of her bizarre relationship with the Earl of Essex, thirty years her junior. Rich in detail, vivid and colourful, this book comes as close as we shall ever get to knowing what Elizabeth I was like as a person.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52572 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 543 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Elizabeth I survived to become queen by being very careful. The fact that she avoided being used or implicated by the various plots against her radically Protestant brother Henry VIII, and fanatically Catholic sister Mary I, was a triumph in itself, and she never forgot the lesson that survival needed to be her first goal. What many of her contemporaries took for irritating womanly indecision was a refusal to be hurried; some situations change and some go away, but you can never escape the consequences of your actions--she protected Mary, Queen of Scots for as long as she could.

Alison Weir's new biography covers the facts well enough, but she understands Elizabeth's situation imaginatively, and that is what makes her book special. Elizabeth not only overcame the misogyny of the world she lived in--she exploited it; Weir's own feminism gives her insights into the canny role-playing that was so crucial to Elizabeth's chameleon nature. Everything had to be policy from wigs and fans to rack and gallows; this is a biography which understands not only what happened, but how it seemed and felt at the time. This is an excellent conclusion to Weir's series of Tudor biographies--popular history which brings good sense to bear on scholarly fact. --Roz Kaveney

Review
"Excellent . . . intricate and absorbing . . . An elegant, shrewd and wonderfully vivacious book."
-"Sunday Times"
"An informative and entertaining biography."
-Peter Ackroyd, "The Times
"
"Full, fair and judicious and particularly good on Elizabeth's private life."
-"Literary Review"

From the Publisher
A brilliant book about one of England's most famous queens

Customer Reviews

An insight into Elisabeth as she must have been
This book, like all others by Alison Weir on the Tudor period, was a delight. The author manages to bring the reader so close to Elisabeth that I really had the feeling I was getting to know her. Particularly enjoyable is the way Weir produces historical evidence : she provides several contemporary accounts on an issue, explains why one account seems to be more reliable that the other - and in the process, never does the record get tedious or scholarly, which in itself is a feat. This approach only gives the impression of a very neutral, objective account - which adds tremendous force to the whole story. And what style, what elegance! A pleasure to read. A great, enjoyable book, which I warmly recommend to anybody interested in history.

A captivating portrait of Englands greatest monarch
This was by far the best written and most instantly engaging book I have read on the Elizabethan period. Alison Weir perfectly captures the atmosphere at court and the machinations and intrigue which occured there. Her portraits of figures such as Walsingham and Essex really make these people come alive to the reader, and the account of Essex almost drawing his sword on the queen, was one of the finest pieces of historical writing I have encountered. The detail is not overwhelming and is set within a compelling narrative, which makes it accesible to both experts and the interested novice alike. I cannot rate this book highly enough, and I will certainly be reading Alison Wiers' other books.

Very sympathetic portrayal of Elizabeth
Alison Weir writes a very engaging and sympathetic account of Queen Elizabeth, taking the reader right into the heart of Renaissance England and Elizabeth's splendid court. This is a vivid portrait of Elizabeth and her relationship with her rivals, suitors, courtiers, subjects, foreign diplomats and enemies. All aspects of court life are covered, from social relations and life at court, to war and the politics of 16th century England, thus providing not just an engaging biography but also a journey in time, taking the reader back 500 years to an England at once imperial, majestic, and in the midst of civil political turmoil. One star less because I feel as if not enough space was given to Elizabeth's relationship and dealings with Mary Tudor or the character and motifs of the Earl of Essex, the uprising of the latter being glossed over very quickly and in little detail, despite Essex's influential role at court.