Alison Weir is the New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley, and several other historical biographies. She lives in Surrey with her husband and two children.
“Gripping . . . a highly readable tour de force that brings Queen
Isabella vividly to life.”—The Washington Post Book World
“Insightful and compelling . . . [offers] surprise after surprise
about the sensual, rather avaricious but eminently admirable
Isabella.”—USA Today
“[Isabella’s] story has a distinctly modern appeal. . . . Full of
violent men with short tempers, conniving politicians and wildly
domineering parents, it’s a period-piece melodrama that doubles as
a timeless morality play.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Fascinating . . . a work of extraordinary historical reporting
that is rich, alive, and truly exciting.”—Tucson Citizen
“It’s her ability to capture the personalities of her aristocratic
subjects—and to deliciously catalogue their clothes, food and
entertainments—that have made Weir such a popular
historian.”—Newsday
“This meticulous no-nonsense biography presents a fascinating story
complete with puzzles.”—The Independent (U.K.)
“Weir’s book offers incredibly in-depth details of and insights
into royal life in the fourteenth century.”—Richmond
Times-Dispatch
“A sympathetic account of Isabella.”—The Times Literary
Supplement
“[Weir] explains the past in terms that we understand and use
today.”—The Tablet
“[An] enthralling biography . . . It provides a beautifully nuanced
portrait of a fascinating lady and gives a vivid sense of the
riotous realpolitik of medieval times.”—The Scotsman
“Weir weaves so much closely researched detail into a highly
readable and fascinating tale. . . . She really brings history to
life.”—Lincolnshire Echo
“[A] balanced view of Isabella’s life . . . Weir succeeds in
bringing to life a murky period of history, which has been shrouded
in myth and legend.”—The Literary Review
“Dramatic and compulsively readable, this biography paints a
realistic and compassionate portrait.”—Woman & Home
“Weir presents a fascinating rewriting of a controversial life that
should supersede all previous accounts. Isabella is so intertwined
with the greatest figures of her century and the next that any
reader of English history will want this book.”—Publishers Weekly
Isabella of France (1295?-1358) married the bisexual Edward II of England as a 12-year-old, lived with him for 17 years, bore him four children, fled to France in fear of his powerful favorite, returned with her lover, Roger Mortimer, to lead a rebellion and place her son on the throne and eventually saw Mortimer executed as her son asserted his power. Veteran biographer Weir (Eleanor of Aquitaine, etc.) battles Isabella's near-contemporaries and later storytellers and historians for control of the narrative, successfully rescuing the queen from writers all too willing to imagine the worst of a medieval woman who dared pursue power. Weir makes great use of inventories to recreate Isabella's activities and surroundings and, strikingly, to establish the timing of the queen's turn against her husband and her probable ignorance of the plot to kill him. Weir convincingly argues that the infamous story of Edward II being murdered with a red-hot iron emerged from propaganda against Isabella and Mortimer. (Her unlikely assertion that Edward escaped and lived out his life as a hermit is less believable.) Weir presents a fascinating rewriting of a controversial life that should supersede all previous accounts. Isabella is so intertwined with the greatest figures of her century and the next that any reader of English history will want this book. Maps not seen by PW. Agent, Julian Alexander. (On sale Oct. 11) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
"Gripping . . . a highly readable tour de force that brings
Queen Isabella vividly to life."-The Washington Post Book
World
"Insightful and compelling . . . [offers] surprise after surprise
about the sensual, rather avaricious but eminently admirable
Isabella."-USA Today
"[Isabella's] story has a distinctly modern appeal. . . . Full of
violent men with short tempers, conniving politicians and wildly
domineering parents, it's a period-piece melodrama that doubles as
a timeless morality play."-The New York Times Book
Review
"Fascinating . . . a work of extraordinary historical reporting
that is rich, alive, and truly exciting."-Tucson Citizen
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