Product Description

Elizabeth Jenkins illuminates in great detail the personal and private life of Elizabeth 1. Was she bald? What precisely was her sex-life? What were her emotional attachments? No other biography provides such a personal study of the Queen and her court - their daily lives, concerns, topics of conversation, meals, living conditions, travels, successes and failures - but it also places them firmly within the historical context of 16th Century Britain. An authoritative history of the period enlightened by a through understanding of Elizabethan society and an intimate portrait of the Queen.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #651809 in Books
• Published on: 2000-07-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

About the Author
Elizabeth Jenkins (1905-). Educated at Newnham College, Cambridge. A distinguished novelist, historian and biographer she has published over 20 books. She was awarded the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize in 1934 for her novel Harriet and she received the OBE in 1981. She was Senior English mistress at King Alfred School, 1929-39 and a civil servant during World War II.

Customer Reviews

Disappointing
There is nothing really wrong with Elizabeth Jenkins' look at the life of Elizabeth I, but as I read on I felt there to be something lacking. It then dawned upon me that Jenkins was simply telling the story of Elizabeth's life and not including any sort of analysis. For example, she gives us some facts about the death of Amy Robsart, Lady Dudley, and says that many people at the time thought her husband had contrived her death, but she does not analyse the evidence or construct any sort of theory for what might have happened. This is only one example, but it makes the book feel rather lightweight and the reader somewhat cheated.

Fantastic - Purchase this at all costs!
A wonderful read, worthwhile to the academic scholar and to the 'armchair' reader.

Whether you have read none, two or two hundred books about Elizabeth the First, this book will be a useful addition to your book collection. Taken from a rather unique persepctive, dispensing with the myths surrounding the enigmatic woman, the book uses a multitude of sources, to paint a vivid picture of the English Queen, so real that it would almost seem she were living, today. With its many tales of intrigue woven into what was a most spectacular reign, this book will make you realise exactly how interesting British History can be. Full of new and fascinating research (though it has been some years since it was published) it can even provide useful previously unknown information to even the most fervent of Elizabethan researchers. Definitely worth five stars, and an excellent companion to my most recent purchase - David Starkey's 'Elizabeth'.

A truely magnificent woman
A superb book. I have just finished reading it - it was rarely put down. It is written intelligently, and never patronises the reader. I had a real sense and understanding of Elizabeth. Ms Jenkins does not get caught up in romantic speculation about the whys and wherefores. Instead, events, key players etc are implicitly analysised. I cannot fault the writing. I highly recommend this book, and now intend reading her 'Elizabeth and Leicester'.