Description
Book Synopsis''The best account in English of the early years of Elizabeth'' Evening Standard
A woman in a man''s world, Queen Elizabeth I was to become England''s most successful ruler.
Confident in her destiny, intensely intelligent, passionately sexual yet (she said) a virgin, Elizabeth''s reign was characterised by a self-assurance unusual for the time. Finding her way through the labyrinthine plots that surrounded the court, she had to live by her wits, surrounded by betrayal and suspicion, not knowing who to trust with her desire to be queen, or her desire to be a lover.
David Starkey''s portrait of the first female ruler of England is an enlightening account. Filled with lucid and clear scenes with fascinating insight throughout, Elizabeth is a truly masterful retelling of the life of a legendary monarch.
''What a page turner!'' Time Out
''Fresh and lively... Vividly told'' Sunday Times
Trade ReviewFresh and lively... Vividly told... He sets before us not only the woman behind the throne but the girl behind the woman * Sunday Times *
The best account in English of the early years of Elizabeth... One of the most zestful pieces of narrative history written...a racy read and first-rate history * Evening Standard *
What a page turner! A white knuckle ride through history...inspired research, from the clues embedded in the portraits to court ceremonial to the often circumlocutory letters * Time Out *
I found myself compelled by David Starkey's vivid recreation of the hazardous uncertainty of Elizabeth's early life, her successive exclusions from the centre of power, the studiedly ambiguous answers she offered her interrogators, her inevitable implications in conspiracies and narrow escapes from execution * Times Literary Supplement *
Combines a relaxed and unfussy style with a thorough knowledge of the period and a sharp eye for detail. Elizabeth's life makes for a compelling story and Starkey tells it well * Spectator *
