A groundbreaking biography of Elizabeth I revealing for the first time the woman behind the polished veneer as she confronts challenges at home and abroad: war against the Catholic powers of France and Spain, revolt in Ireland, an economic crisis that triggered riots in the streets of London, and a conspiracy to place her cousin Mary Queen of Scots on her throne.

A surprising and very personal biography of a woman who may be the world's last great queen, published to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of her reign.

Drawing on numerous interviews and never-before-revealed documents, acclaimed biographer Sally Bedell Smith pulls back the curtain to show in intimate detail the public and private lives of Queen Elizabeth II, who has led her country and Commonwealth through the wars and upheavals of the last sixty years with unparalleled composure, intelligence, and grace.

When the queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, learns Ursula is to visit her relatives in Devon, he asks her to find out what has happened to two of his local agents, who have been strangely silent. On arrival in Devon, Ursula learns both men have met with mysterious, and fatal, accidents. Or is there more to it than that?

A biography of England's most famous queen including her achievements and the great events which took place during her reign.

A "novel about love, passion, and ambition that imagines the muse of William Shakespeare and the tumultuous year they spend together"--Amazon.com.

"July, 1573. Recently widowed, Ursula Blanchard is living a quiet life on her Surrey estate, caring for her infant son. But her peaceful existence is shattered when Ursula's neighbour Jane Cobbold is found dead in her own flowerbed, stabbed through the heart with a silver dagger - and Ursula's manservant Brockley is arrested for the crime. Determined to prove Brockley's innocence, Ursula seeks help from her old mentor Lord Burghley. But when a second...