Elizabeth I

The novel portrays Elizabeth I during the final quarter of her reign, beginning as England prepares to confront the Spanish Armada and following the queen into the political and personal crises of her later years. Its alternating viewpoints set Elizabeth against her cousin Lettice Knollys, whose secret marriage to Robert Dudley destroyed her place at court. Their rivalry continues through Lettice’s son Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, whose charm and military ambition draw him close to the queen before turning him into a dangerous opponent.

Elizabeth must preserve Protestant England through war with Spain, unrest in Ireland, financial pressure and uncertainty over the succession, while the trusted advisers of her youth are replaced by a younger generation led by Robert Cecil. Walter Raleigh, Francis Drake, James VI of Scotland and the poets and playwrights of the Elizabethan court form part of a world in which public image is inseparable from government. The book culminates in Essex’s failed rebellion and Elizabeth’s last years, contrasting the authority of the Virgin Queen with the loneliness and physical decline of the ageing woman behind the royal persona.