Description

A SPELLBINDING NOVEL FROM SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR, PHILIPPA GREGORY

‘There is only one bond that I trust: between a woman and her sisters. We never take our eyes off each other. In love and in rivalry, we always think of each other.’

When Katherine of Aragon is brought to the Tudor court as a young bride, the oldest princess, Margaret, takes her measure. With one look, each knows the other for a rival, an ally, a pawn, destined – with Margaret’s younger sister Mary – to a sisterhood unique in all the world. The three sisters will become the queens of England, Scotland and France.

United by family loyalties and affections, the three queens find themselves set against each other. Katherine commands an army against Margaret and kills her husband James IV of Scotland. But Margaret’s boy becomes heir to the Tudor throne when Katherine loses her son. Mary steals the widowed Margaret’s proposed husband, but when Mary is widowed it is her secret marriage for love that is the envy of the others. As they experience betrayals, dangers, loss and passion, the three sisters find that the only constant in their perilous lives is their special bond, more powerful than any man, even a king.

Praise for Philippa Gregory:

‘Meticulously researched and deeply entertaining, this story of betrayal and divided loyalties is Gregory on top form’ Good Housekeeping

‘Gregory has popularised Tudor history perhaps more than any other living fiction writer…all of her books feature strong, complex women, doing their best to improve their lives in worlds dominated by men’ Sunday Times

‘Engrossing’ Sunday Express

‘Popular historical fiction at its finest, immaculately researched and superbly told’ The Times

Publisher Review

'A master storyteller...Gregory captures the intrigue and suspense of life at the Tudor court in vivid detail. She skilfully combines painstaking historical research with a gripping fictional narrative and her characters are so lifelike and engaging that they practically leap from the page' -- Daily Express 'A cleverly wrought political novel. In introducing Parr to a new audience, Gregory has done the first lady of English letters something of a favour' -- Sunday Telegraph 'Gregory dramatises the story of a reluctant royal wife negotiating the anxious, dangerous years of her marriage... written with her usual authority and capacity for great drama' -- Sunday Times 'The Taming of the Queen reads like a clever, intimate thriller' -- The Times 'Gregory brilliantly captures the torn loyalties, treacheries and tragedies that lie beneath the historical detail, to entertaining effect' -- Good Housekeeping 'The contemporary mistress of historical crime' -- Kate Mosse 'Popular historical fiction at its finest, immaculately researched and superbly told' -- The Times 'Gregory creates a world in which all but the most determined women are tools in the hands of powerful men... past-paced, convincing, vivid and engrossing' -- Daily Express 'Philippa Gregory has another hit on her hands with this gripping page-turner. Her novel simplifies and humanises the complex politics of the period' -- Sunday Times 'Lady Margaret Beaufort - cold, clever, calculating - will stop at nothing to put her son Henry Tudor on the throne. Gregory is very good at describing the bitchiness of the women in this tale of dynastic rivalry' -- Daily Telegraph 'Rollicking, page-turning stuff' -- Metro 'Popular history at its best' -- Daily Mail 'Meticulously researched...for each novel she immerses herself in dozens of primary and secondary sources, before transforming them into vivid fiction' -- Sunday Telegraph 'History comes gloriously alive as Elizabeth Woodville seduces and marries Yorkist King Edward IV' -- Daily Mirror 'Philippa Gregory is truly the mistress of the historical novel. It would be hard to make history more entertaining, lively or engaging' -- Sunday Express 'Her novels are filled with strong, determined women who take their fate into their own hands' -- Financial Times 'Rarely has history been so seductive' -- Tatler 'Gregory makes history come alive ... riveting' -- Daily Express