This is a page-turning, revisionist history of the villainised and misunderstood Mary Tudor, the first queen of England.

    And it was Lettice who was the mother of the Queen's beloved Earl of Essex. That young earl would one day break the Queen's heart.It was always Lettice, the constant spoiler in the triangle of love surrounding Elizabeth...

    When the young queen is smitten by the dashing Robert Dudley, Katherine must choose between duty and desire-as her secret passion for a handsome earl threatens to turn Elizabeth against her. Once the queen becomes a bitter and capricious monarch, another lady-in-waiting, Mistress Mary Rogers, offers the queen comfort. But even Mary cannot remain impervious to the court's sexual tension-and as Elizabeth gives her doomed heart to the mercurial Earl of Essex, Mary is drawn to the queen's rakish godson...

    On her twelfth birthday, Bess of Hardwick receives the news that she is to be a waiting gentlewoman in the household of Lady Zouche. Armed with nothing but her razor-sharp wit and fetching looks, Bess is terrified of leaving home. But as her family has neither the money nor the connections to find her a good husband, she must go to facilitate her rise in society. When Bess arrives at the glamorous court of King Henry VIII, she is thrust into a treacherous world of politics and intrigue, a world she must quickly learn to navigate. The gruesome fates of Henry’s wives convince Bess that marrying is a dangerous business. Even so, she finds the courage to wed not once, but four times. Bess outlives one husband, then another, securing her status as a woman of property. But it is when she is widowed a third time that she is left with a large fortune and even larger decisions—discovering that, for a woman of substance, the power and the possibilities are endless . . .

    But she soon finds herself drawn into the perilous web of Anne's ambition.Desperate to hold onto the king's waning affection, Anne schemes to have him take her guileless young cousin as mistress, ensuring her husband's new paramour will owe her loyalty to the queen. But Margaret has fallen deeply in love with a handsome young courtier. She is faced with a terrible dilemma: give herself to the king and betray the love of her life or refuse to become his mistress and jeopardize the life of the her cousin, Queen Anne.

    The Tudor court is a tangible place, filled with real people and gives us a sixth wife of Henry VIII that stands out in Tudor fiction." Nancy Bilyeau, The Crown "An evocative and compelling story of Tudor intrigue, set in the final years of King Henry VIII." Tony Riches 1537. England. Henry VIII is in conflict with the Pope and the country is divided. A contingent of people in the north embark upon the Pilgrimage of Grace, to compel their monarch to bring him back into the fold. But the unyielding Henry sends an army to quell the uprising. In Yorkshire, Lady Katheryn Latimer, and her step-children, Margaret and John, are held under siege at Snape Castle. Henry proves victorious, although his victory doesn't wholly heal the divisions in the country. A few years later, widowed for the second time, Katheryn joins the household of Lady Mary Tudor where she encounters an old sweetheart, Thomas Seymour. But they are forced to cancel their plans to marry when King Henry VIII makes Katheryn an offer that she is unable to refuse. Haunted by the fates of Henry’s previous wives, Katheryn becomes the king’s trusted consort. But the court is treacherous and Katheryn wins more enemies than friends. . It is not until the Henry's death that Katheryn is finally able to follow the desires of her heart. Judith Arnopp is the author of numerous bestselling historical novels, including The Kiss of the Concubine, written from the perspective of Tudor women, from all walks of life.

    Her name was Mary Tudor. First of the Tudor queens, she has gone down in history as 'Bloody Mary'. But does she deserve her vicious reputation? She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, and half-sister to Edward VI and Elizabeth I. Mary Tudor's life began as the sweetly innocent, pampered Princess Of Wales. Until the age of eleven when the father she adored cast her aside, and the mother she worshipped declared Mary 'a bastard'. Only after years of exile did Mary finally rise to the throne alongside the man who, aside from her father, was her greatest love and her greatest betrayer. Told by Mary herself and the people around her, this grand-scale novel takes us back to the glittering court of sixteenth-century England, and tells the tragic story of a fascinating, largely misunderstood woman, who withstood the treachery and passion around her only to become one of England's most vilified queens.

    No longer stuck in Cat's shadow, Kitty's now caught between two men--the object of her affection and the object of her desire. But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat's meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head.

    This is the first in a series of early medieval novels by Vanora Bennett, the author of Portrait of an Unknown Woman. Catherine de Valois, daughter of the French king, is born in troubled times. Brought up in a the stormy and unstable environment of the court, her only friend is the remarkable poet and writer Christine de Pizan. Catherine is married off to Henry V as part of a treaty honouring his victory over France, and is destined to be a trophy wife. Terrified at the idea of being married to a man who is at once a foreigner, an enemy and a rough soldier, Catherine nevertheless does her duty. Within two years she is widowed, and mother of the future King of England and France - even though her brother has already claimed the French crown for himself. Caught between warring factions, Catherine finds support from Owain Tudor, controller of her household - a dangerous support as rumours of their relationship would jeopardise her right to keep her child. To save her son, and herself, she must turn away from her love and all that is familiar and safe to find another way forward.

    A Latin scholar and outstanding musician, her love of fashion was matched only by her zeal for gambling. It is the tragedy of Queen Mary that today, 450 years after her death, she remains the most hated, least understood monarch in English history.Linda Porter’s pioneering new biography—based on contemporary documents and drawing from recent scholarship—cuts through the myths to reveal the truth about the first queen to rule England in her own right. Mary learned politics in a hard school, and was cruelly treated by her father and bullied by the strongmen of her brother, Edward VI. An audacious coup brought her to the throne, and she needed all her strong will and courage to keep it. Mary made a grand marriage to Philip of Spain, but her attempts to revitalize England at home and abroad were cut short by her premature death at the age of forty-two.  The first popular biography of Mary in thirty years, The First Queen of England offers a fascinating, controversial look at this much-maligned queen.

    Katherine’s sister, Juana of Castile, wife of Philip of Burgundy and mother of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, is portrayed as “Juana the Mad,” whose erratic behavior included keeping her beloved late husband’s coffin beside her for years. But historian Julia Fox, whose previous work painted an unprecedented portrait of Jane Boleyn, Anne’s sister, offers deeper insight in this first dual biography of Katherine and Juana, the daughters of Spain’s Ferdinand and Isabella, whose family ties remained strong despite their separation. Looking through the lens of their Spanish origins, Fox reveals these queens as flesh-and-blood women—equipped with character, intelligence, and conviction—who are worthy historical figures in their own right.When they were young, Juana’s and Katherine’s futures appeared promising. They had secured politically advantageous marriages, but their dreams of love and power quickly dissolved, and the unions for which they’d spent their whole lives preparing were fraught with duplicity and betrayal. Juana, the elder sister, unexpectedly became Spain’s sovereign, but her authority was continually usurped, first by her husband and later by her son. Katherine, a young widow after the death of Prince Arthur of Wales, soon remarried his doting brother Henry and later became a key figure in a drama that altered England’s religious landscape.Ousted from the positions of power and influence they had been groomed for and separated from their children, Katherine and Juana each turned to their rich and abiding faith and deep personal belief in their family’s dynastic legacy to cope with their enduring hardships. Sister Queens is a gripping tale of love, duty, and sacrifice—a remarkable reflection on the conflict between ambition and loyalty during an age when the greatest sin, it seems, was to have been born a woman.

    Five years old, they are already primed for the work of their lifetime - to serve another little girl called Mary. Mary, Queen of Scots. Thirteen years later, the five return to an unwelcoming Scotland, and as Queen Mary struggles to take control of her turbulent country, her famous ‘Four Marys’ are at her side. The queen finds herself set on the path of violence and disaster which will lead eventually to her tragic end. But what of the other four Marys, bound inexorably to their mistress’ fate? Of the four, it is Mary Seton who serves the queen longest, and whose loyalty is most severely tested. Through a maze of shadows - of treachery and even witchcraft - how can she find her own way ahead? Praise for The Queen’s Mary “Sarah Gristwood breathes new life into the deeply tragic story of Mary Queen of Scots by telling it through the perspective of the invisible woman who sacrificed her life to serve her.” Elizabeth Freemantle, bestselling author of The Girl in the Glass Tower After leaving Oxford, Sarah Gristwood began work as a journalist, appearing in most of the UK’s leading newspapers. Turning to history, she wrote bestselling biographies and works of fiction and nonfiction, predominantly focused on the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A regular media commentator on royal and historical affairs, Sarah was one of the team providing Radio 4’s live coverage of the royal wedding; and has since spoken on royal and historical stories from the royal babies to the reburial of Richard III for national television and radio. Shortlisted for both the Marsh Biography Award and the Ben Pimlott Prize for Political Writing, she is a Fellow of the RSA, and an Honorary Patron of Historic Royal Palaces.

    At the third stroke of the axe the order signed by Queen Elizabeth I of England was carried out, and the turbulent life of Mary, Queen of Scots was ended. — "Immortal Queen" tells the story of that life, from Mary's childhood days in France to her death at Fotheringay. The narrative is in the highest tradition of historical fiction - vivid, alive, and rich in pageantry. From the first page the reader is lost in a world of nearly four centuries ago, a world of drama and torturous intrigue, of treachery and high courage. Mary, a widow and a queen at the age of eighteen, dies as courageously as she had lived; and Bothwell, that lion of a man who perished a madman in a Danish prison, more that matches her in courage - and is the one man she could trust among many who would betray her and plot her downfall. All spring to life in this enthralling, unforgettable book.

    A woman of intellect and presence, Elizabeth was the object of extravagant adoration by her contemporaries. She firmly believed in the divine providence of her sovereignty and exercised supreme authority over the intrigue-laden Tudor court and Elizabethan England at large. Brilliant, mercurial, seductive, and maddening, an inspiration to artists and adventurers and the subject of vicious speculation over her choice not to marry, Elizabeth became the most powerful ruler of her time. Anne Somerset has immortalized her in this splendidly illuminating account.

    Perfect for fans of Philipa Gregory.When her own first child is tragically still-born, the young Mette is pressed into service as a wet-nurse at the court of the mad king, Charles VI of France. Her young charge is the princess, Catherine de Valois, caught up in the turbulence and chaos of life at court.Mette and the child forge a bond, one that transcends Mette’s lowly position.But as Catherine approaches womanhood, her unique position seals her fate as a pawn between two powerful dynasties. Her brother, The Dauphin and the dark and sinister, Duke of Burgundy will both use Catherine to further the cause of France.Catherine is powerless to stop them, but with the French defeat at the Battle of Agincourt, the tables turn and suddenly her currency has never been higher. But can Mette protect Catherine from forces at court who seek to harm her or will her loyalty to Catherine place her in even greater danger?