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.

    Rain-lashed city streets. A flash of lightning. A scruffy lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain attempt to escape her captors. Can the lad stand by and let her be caught again? Of course not, because he's...Dodger.Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London's sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one. He's not about to let anything happen to the unknown girl--not even if her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England.From Dodger's encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery.Beloved and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett combines high comedy with deep wisdom in this tale of an unexpected coming-of-age and one remarkable boy's rise in a complex and fascinating world.

    Jerome's Three Men in a Boat includes an introduction and notes by Jeremy Lewis in Penguin Classics.Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J. and his friends George and Harris decide that a jaunt up the Thames would suit them to a 'T'. But when they set off, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather forecasts and tins of pineapple chunks - not to mention the devastation left in the wake of J.'s small fox-terrier Montmorency. Three Men in a Boat was an instant success when it appeared in 1889, and, with its benign escapism, authorial discursions and wonderful evocation of the late-Victorian 'clerking classes', it hilariously captured the spirit of its age.In his introduction, Jeremy Lewis examines Jerome K. Jerome's life and times, and the changing world of Victorian England he depicts - from the rise of a new mass-culture of tabloids and bestselling novels to crazes for daytripping and bicycling.

    Dubbed the "pirate queen" by the Vatican and Spain's Philip II, she employed a network of daring merchants, brazen adventurers, astronomer philosophers, and her stalwart Privy Council to anchor her throne—and in doing so, planted the seedlings of an empire that would ultimately cover two-fifths of the world. In 'The Pirate Queen', historian Susan Ronald offers a fresh look at Elizabeth I, relying on a wealth of historical sources and thousands of the queen's personal letters to tell the thrilling story of a visionary monarch and the swashbuckling mariners who terrorized the seas to amass great wealth for themselves and the Crown.

    I guess it depends on what I do next."American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister, Lacey, has always been the romantic who fantasized about glamour and royalty, fame and fortune. Yet it's Bex who seeks adventure at Oxford and finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, Great Britain's future king. And when Bex can't resist falling for Nick, the person behind the prince, it propels her into a world she did not expect to inhabit, under a spotlight she is not prepared to face.Dating Nick immerses Bex in ritzy society, dazzling ski trips, and dinners at Kensington Palace with him and his charming, troublesome brother, Freddie. But the relationship also comes with unimaginable baggage: hysterical tabloids, Nick's sparkling and far more suitable ex-girlfriends, and a royal family whose private life is much thornier and more tragic than anyone on the outside knows. The pressures are almost too much to bear, as Bex struggles to reconcile the man she loves with the monarch he's fated to become.Which is how she gets into trouble.Now, on the eve of the wedding of the century, Bex is faced with whether everything she's sacrificed for love-her career, her home, her family, maybe even herself-will have been for nothing.

    But on the eve of her execution Rombaud swears a vow to the ill-fated queen: to bury her six-fingered hand, symbol of her rumoured witchery, at a sacred crossroads. Yet in a Europe ravaged by religious war, the hand of this infamous Protestant icon is so powerful a relic that many will kill for it... From a battle between slave galleys to a Black Mass in a dungeon, through the hallucinations of St Anthony's Fire to the fortress of an apocalyptic Messiah, Jean seeks to honour his vow.

    But what if Anne loved someone else? Upon returning to England after a girlhood spent serving at the Court of France, Anne is astonished to catch the eye of King Henry VIII. Despite being in love with a man she can never marry, Anne is ordered by her powerful family to wed the King. Drawn into a court filled with intrigue and deception, can Anne keep the secret that, if discovered, will cost her life, and the life of the one man she truly loves?

    The Kingdom of Jerusalem hanging by a thread. One Knight Justice must face his greatest fears or die trying… Brother Foulques de Villaret just wants to stay in Acre and perform his sworn duties. Instead, the young Hospitaller Knight of Saint John must undertake a dangerous journey from the Holy Land to a remote village nestled in the Alps, the ‘Spine of the World’. His mission: buy 500 peasant boys and return them to Acre to be trained as Soldiers of Christ. Pursued across the Mid-Earth Sea by slavers, Brother Foulques and his Army of Children are about to be thrust into a confrontation with the greatest warriors the East has ever known: the Mamluks. To survive, Brother Foulques must turn to risky alliances… and pray that his choices do not lead them all to destruction. Acre is the first book in the Hospitaller Saga, a series of breathtaking historical novels set in the late 13th century. If you like action-packed adventure and authentically rich fiction, then you’ll love J. K. Swift’s historically epic masterpiece.

    And most do. But few of his conquests know that Lucifer is also His Majesty's most daring secret agent, at home in both London's Imperial grandeur and in its underworld of despicable vice. So when Britain's most prominent scientists begin turning up dead, there is only one man his country can turn to for help. Following a dinnertime assassination, Lucifer is dispatched to uncover the whereabouts of missing agent Jocelyn Poop. Along the way he will give art lessons, be attacked by a poisonous centipede, bed a few choice specimens, and travel to Italy on business and pleasure. Aided by his henchwoman Delilah; the beautiful, mysterious, and Dutch Miss Bella Pok; his boss, a dwarf who takes meetings in a lavatory; grizzled vulcanologist Emmanuel Quibble; and the impertinent, delicious, right-hand-boy Charlie Jackpot, Lucifer Box deduces and seduces his way from his elegant townhouse at Number 9 Downing Street (somebody has to live there) to the ruined city of Pompeii, to infiltrate a highly dangerous secret society that may hold the fate of the world in its clawlike grip.

    She's gate-crashed a wedding... She's making money by secretly cleaning houses... And she's been asked to spy for Her Majesty the Queen.Everything seems to be going swimmingly until she finds a body in her bathtub... and someone is definitely trying to kill her.Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins

    . .Barbara Parker is Miss Blackpool of 1964, but she doesn't want to be a beauty queen. She wants to make people laugh.So she leaves her hometown behind, takes herself to London, and overnight she becomes the lead in a new BBC comedy, Sophie Straw: charming, gorgeous, destined to win the nation's hearts.

    For centuries the Scottish and English borders were known as the Debatable lands: wild, lawless, and the province of reivers, tight-knit robber families that roamed and pillaged the remote passes without fear...Fifteen-year-old Mintie Henderson has just seen her father murdered. With the Scottish King newly dead and an army of hired reivers on the march, justice is in short supply. Then she comes across Batty Coalhouse: one-armed and hard as nails. Together they will set out on a journey of revenge.But they are soon caught up in something bigger, a tale of Mary Queen of Scots and King Henry VIII. Stuck in the heart of a tempest, they know only one way to get out alive…Fight.

    His father, John Dudley, saw his own father executed by Henry VIII when he ascended the throne, and suffered ignominy and obscurity as a result. But John is determined to rise high and see his family restored to its former glorious position. He places his sons in the Royal Household, and Robert spends his childhood years at the Royal Court, as playmate to King Henry's children, Prince Edward and the Lady Elizabeth. Robert sees his father gain power and influence, becoming the young King Edward VI's most important courtier. But when John tries to make his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, queen,the Catholic Mary Tudor proves she has the support of the people, and John is forced to renounce Jane and proclaim Mary queen. For their part in the Nine Days Queen affair, John and his sons are imprisoned in the Tower of London, to await trial and probable execution. Forced to admit that he erred in his belief in the New Religion, Protestantism, John, along with his son, Guildford who married Jane Grey, are executed, having their heads cut off on Tower Hill. One more brother dies of illness, and Queen Mary shows mercy and releases the remaining three brothers. Robert becomes desperate to restore the family's name and fortune, and persuades his brothers to join Queen Mary's husband, King Philip of Spain, in a war against the French. In France, the youngest Dudley brother, Henry, is killed, but Robert is mentioned in despatches as having fought valiantly, and the taint of attainder is removed from the Dudley family name. The Dudleys are not considered traitors any longer. But Robert is still not wanted at court, and he is forced to leave London and settle down with his wife, Amy Robsart, in Norfolk. But he soon grows tired of both the country and his wife, and hopes one day to be able to return to the court. His chance comes when Queen Mary dies and Elizabeth Tudor becomes queen. Abandoning his wife, Robert rushes to her side. Elizabeth soon falls in love with Robert, and sordid rumours spread throughout Europe about their relationship, made worse when Robert's wife dies in mysterious circumstances, and he is suspected of having her murdered. Exiled from the court, Robert has to wait in the country for the coroner's court to return a verdict of Accidental Death before Elizabeth allows him to return to her. Robert is now a free man, but Elizabeth, ever fearful of relinquishing her power, and haunted by the beheadings of her mother, Anne Boleyn, and her stepmother, Katherine Howard, will not agree to marry him, while jealously keeping him by her side. But Robert keeps hoping, and with his heart set on becoming king, he is forced to live a double life, keeping his mistress and illegitimate son secret to avoid Elizabeth's wrath. Until he falls in love with Elizabeth's cousin, the pretty and seductive, Lettice. Lettice demands marriage when she becomes pregnant, and Robert, tired of waiting for Elizabeth and wanting an heir to carry on the Dudley name, agrees. Meanwhile, his growing reputation as politician and staunch Protestant, means that Europe looks to him to solve their religious and territorial problems. Ever eager to improve his reputation and to prove that he is more than Elizabeth's favourite, he launches himself into war in the Netherlands, and is finally offered the governorship of the Dutch, making him a king in all but name. He accepts the Dutch offer but when Elizabeth hears of it, she is furious and insists that he renounce the title. Robert is forced to make a humiliating exit. He returns to England, disappointed and broken in body. Forced to become a soldier again when the Spanish launch their Armada, Robert is too ill to celebrate the English victory and dies en route to taking the spa waters at Buxton. When Elizabeth hears the news, she looks herself away in her room to grieve alone.

    Tudor England. It is during the reign of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. As her time in power nears an end, Anne is greatly disheartened by the false accusations of adultery, high treason and incest she is arrested for, and the cold-heartedness of her father for his lack of defense in her honor. Upon her death, she vows revenge on those who have wronged her, and the simple change of her death sentence from beheading to hanging grants her the opportunity to execute her wish on those who betrayed her. Unknown forces of inconceivable dark magic abounds. Anne discovers she has risen from her grave because of her denouncement of God just moments before her hanging, and resurrects two others from their untimely, wrongful deaths--her brother, George, and her favorite court musician and dear friend, Mark Smeaton. This unlikely trio will drive Whitehall Palace to madness, bringing those closest to Anne to their knees, begging for mercy and forgiveness. Once Anne executes her justice among those who have failed her, the last and final question will be whether Anne will finally have peace, or find comfort in haunting England forever.