Watch the Lady - Elizabeth Fremantle

Watch the Lady

By: Elizabeth Fremantle

Paperback | 9 June 2015

At a Glance

Paperback


$40.40

or 4 interest-free payments of $10.10 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 15 to 25 business days

From “a brilliant new player in the court of royal fiction” (People), comes the mesmerizing story of Lady Penelope Devereux—the daring young beauty in the Tudor court, who inspired Sir Philip Sidney’s famous sonnets even while she plotted against Queen Elizabeth.

Penelope Devereux arrives at Queen Elizabeth’s court where she and her brother, the Earl of Essex, are drawn into the aging Queen’s favor. Young and naïve, Penelope, though promised elsewhere, falls in love with Philip Sidney who pours his heartbreak into the now classic sonnet series Astrophil and Stella. But Penelope is soon married off to a man who loathes her. Never fainthearted, she chooses her moment and strikes a deal with her husband: after she gives birth to two sons, she will be free to live as she chooses, with whom she chooses. But she is to discover that the course of true love is never smooth.

Meanwhile Robert Cecil, ever loyal to Elizabeth, has his eye on Penelope and her brother. Although it seems the Earl of Essex can do no wrong in the eyes of the Queen, as his influence grows, so his enemies gather. Penelope must draw on all her political savvy to save her brother from his own ballooning ambition and Cecil’s trap, while daring to plan for an event it is treason even to think about.

Unfolding over the course of two decades and told from the perspectives of Penelope and her greatest enemy, the devious politician Cecil, Watch the Lady chronicles the last gasps of Elizabeth’s reign, and the deadly scramble for power in a dying dynasty.
Industry Reviews
"This is a superbly written novel . . . Fremantle is surely a major new voice in historical fiction and this book is the answer to the question about what Hilary Mantel fans should read while waiting for the final part of her trilogy."-- "The Bookseller"
"Fremantle manages to combine pacey storytelling with superb background...terrifically entertaining."-- "The Sunday Times"
"Intrigue, romance, and treachery abound in Fremantle's debut novel . . . . This compulsively readable fictional biography of the ultimate survivor is infused with the type of meticulous attention to historical detailing that discerning fans of Alison Weir and Philippa Gregory have come to expect in the Tudor canon."-- "Booklist"
"The research and historical detail are impeccable.. and fans will enjoy this evocation of Elizabeth's tumultuous court"-- "The Times"

More in Historical Fiction

The Whisperer's War - Jackie French

RRP $34.99

$19.95

43%
OFF
The Persians - Sanam Mahloudji

Paperback

RRP $32.99

$26.95

18%
OFF
The Lamplighter's Bookshop - Sophie Austin

RRP $29.99

$19.95

33%
OFF
The South - Tash Aw

Paperback

RRP $32.99

$26.95

18%
OFF
Library for the War-Wounded - Monika Helfer

RRP $22.99

$20.35

11%
OFF
A Piece of Red Cloth - Leonie Norrington

RRP $34.99

$26.95

23%
OFF
The Limestone Road - Nicole Alexander

RRP $34.99

$19.95

43%
OFF
Nephthys - Rachel Louise Driscoll

Paperback

RRP $34.99

$28.50

19%
OFF
James : The Bestselling, Award-Winning Sensation - Percival Everett
Where the Birds Call Her Name - Claire van Ryn

RRP $34.99

$19.95

43%
OFF
The Night of the Scourge : The Sister Bells Trilogy Vol. 3 - Lars Mytting
The Governor, His Wife and His Mistress - Sue Williams

RRP $34.99

$17.95

49%
OFF
Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

RRP $22.99

$20.35

11%
OFF
The Queens of Crime - Marie Benedict

RRP $34.99

$29.50

16%
OFF
A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles

RRP $22.99

$20.35

11%
OFF