The Virgin Elizabeth

A book of passion, ofsixteenth-century England, of greed and political ambition unto death. Historiansand novelists have written extensively about the various aspects of QueenElizabeth I’s long, rich, and tumultuous life. No one has ever given us a fullyrealized portrait of the greatest English monarch as a young girl. Concludingher brilliant Tudor trilogy, Robin Maxwell enters this new territory byintroducing Elizabeth as a romantic and vulnerable teenager dangerouslyawakening to sexuality with the wrong man. Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIIIand Anne Boleyn, was banished from the court at the age of two when her fathersent Anne Boleyn to her death. Seven years later, when the gracious andimmensely wealthy Catherine Parr became Henry’s sixth wife, she softened theKing’s heart and Elizabeth was readmitted to the court. For the next four yearsthe young princess enjoyed a warm friendship with Catherine and a new sense ofbelonging.

In 1547, Great Harry is dead, andElizabeth’s nine-year-old brother Edward VI is king in name only. EdwardSeymour, Duke of Somerset, has boldly named himself Lord Protector andeffectively seized power. Meanwhile the duke’s equally ambitious brotherThomas, realizing he cannot wrest control directly, has deployed his greatesttalent—his charm and sexual magnetism—to utmost effect by persuading Henry’swidow Catherine to marry him. His real goal, however, is the late king’sdaughter: Elizabeth herself. And so the game begins, one with rules that onlyreckless, amoral Thomas Seymour understands. Into this intrigue are drawn both thosewho love Elizabeth and those who wish her ill. In order to escape certain doomand achieve independence, Elizabeth must stand alone.