Publicly declared a bastard at the age of three, daughter of a disgraced and executed mother, last in the line of succession to the throne of England, Elizabeth I inherited an England ravaged by bloody religious conflict, at war with Spain and France, and badly in debt. When she died in 1603, after a forty-five- year reign, her empire spanned two continents and was united under one church, victorious in war, and blessed with an overflowing treasury. What''s more, her favorites--William Shakespeare, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir Walter Raleigh--had made the Elizabethan era a cultural Golden Age still remembered today.
But for Elizabeth the woman, tragedy went hand in hand with triumph. Politics and scandal forced the passionate queen to reject her true love, Robert Dudley, and to execute his stepson, her much-adored Lord Essex. Now in this spellbinding novel, Rosalind Miles brings to life the woman behind the myth. By turns imperious, brilliant, calculating, vain, and witty, this is the Elizabeth the world never knew. From the days of her brutal father, Henry VIII, to her final dying moments, Elizabeth tells her story in her own words.

I'm planning on sending this out as a bookray.

Rules: Not many. Please journal the book's arrival and departure. And please keep it moving by keeping it no longer than 4 weeks. The last person is free to release the book as they wish.


1. tokorua - Australia (Intl)
2. BokOrm09 - UK (UK)
3. nediamnori87 - UK (UK/Italy)
4. Hayes13 - Italy (Intl)
5. thegoaliegirl - US (US)
6.

Starting the journey on November 14th!

arrived today

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

will be releasing unread as have too many on the go.hope u enjoy.

Collected it from the Post Office this morning and am just about to start reading. Thanks to lauraloo29 for organising this ring and to tokorua for sending it so quickly.

Update 9/01/10
I finished reading the book today. I've already PM'd the next reader and plan to mail it on Monday.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Posted second class to the next reader, who is nediamnori87, in Fife, Scotland. Hope you enjoy the book and thanks again to Lauraloo29 for organising this ray.

This look like a fantastic book and I look forward to getting stuck in it soon. I've been really busy for the last few days with revision but as of tomorrow I'm exam free and on a break so should get to it in no time at all.

I really enjoyed reading about Elizabeth's life but I found it very difficult to keep track of who was who. With the constant changing of Lords and referring to them in all manners of ways either by first name or county held I started to struggle to follow it.
It was interesting to contrast the scandal concerning Thomas Seymore in a different light to that portrayed by Weir in her historical fiction, as it was to compare how the relationship with Dudley. I think I would have enjoyed the book more having had it in 5 separate books of longer length with a consistent naming system.
However the idea of it being Elizabeth's memoir was a good one.

Will PM the next person for their address and have it sent out soon.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to the next reader

Arrived this morning. Will get to it as soon as I can. It's awfully large... I hope I can keep everyone straight too!

Thanks for sending, nediamnori87, and for sharing lauraloo29!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Finally sending this out. On it goes to beautiful Washington State!

Hope you enjoy it.

Book has arrived safely in Spokane, WA. I'll start this one once I finish my current book. Will try to get it read in the next month before I go on vacation.

I finally finished this book. I had to put it down a few times (took a trip internationally and didn't want to lug it with me), etc. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I liked that it was a lot more of Elizabeth's life than just up until her first few years as Queen. It was full of information but not boring.

Since I'm last, I'll be finding a new home for the book soon.

Hope you enjoy this book! I'm sure you will though!

A very thoughtful and well-chosen gift from a most knowledgeable connoisseur of this literature. Thank you, goaliegirl!

This stayed a little too far in the heavy-breathing territory for my taste. We have a lot of reason to believe that Elizabeth had a steamy love life, and we know for sure that she could be tempestuous, impulsive, and hot-tempered. But she couldn't have spent all her time agonizing over does he/will he/can I, etc. and still have achieved her magnificent reputation as patron of music and drama, shrewd economist, judicious negotiator (or intimidator) with Parliament, religious reformer, and deft balancer of opposing foreign powers to maintain the safety of her realm. The full story of her life is a lot more complex and interesting than the parts we're shown here.

And a little note to mediamnori87 - I too have always found the English system of names difficult. But I always supposed that if it were a standard pattern in my native country, it would seem simpler. If you can't get it either, there's truly no hope for me!

I'll be putting this into a First Sentences 'Wrap It Up', bookbox, because it has a real knockout of a first sentence.

Placed in bookstogive's Wrap It Up Bookbox

I picked this out of bookstogive's Wrap It Up bookbox. All books in this bookbox were individually wrapped and marked with a tag listing the first sentence of each particular book. I HAD to pick this one as this book's first sentence just stood out from the others... "Some are born bastards, some achieve bastardy, others have bastardy thrust upon them, as the fellow said in the play last Shrovetide… ". My curiosity paid off and I found out that I had chosen a historical fiction (one of my fav genres). I'm a happy camper!