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'Scintillating, provocative... An elegant synthesis of royal biography and political thriller.' Daily Telegraph

A Times History Book of the Year: a story which inspired the Hollywood film MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.

Mary, Queen of Scots & Elizabeth I of England. Two powerful monarchs on a single island.

Threatened by voices who believed no woman could govern.

Surrounded by sycophants, spies and detractors.

Accosted for their dominion, their favour and their bodies.

Besieged by secret plots, devastating betrayals and a terrible final act.

Only one queen could survive to rule all.

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'Brings us a fresh Mary, set in a gloriously rich context, a tragic heroine - irresistibly real and relevant... There isn't a line wasted in this taut, dramatic and utterly beguiling biography.' Charles Spencer author of Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I

`The perfect combination of scholarship and storytelling, meticulous research and emotional insight, Kate Williams brings Mary vividly to life in all her complexities and contradictions.' Kate Mosse, author of The Burning Chambers

'It takes a special kind of historian to turn an old story on its head. Eye-opening, provocative, this is the great rivalry re-imagined for the #MeToo generation.' Lucy Worsley