Books to read if you loved Hilary Mantel's The Mirror and the Light

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Reading lists

Books to read if you loved Hilary Mantel’s ‘The Mirror & The Light’

Queens of the Age of Chivalry

Weir... paints a rich image of the lives these queens led... this book shines a light on the turbulent but often forgotten stories of the queens of this important period in English history.

Weir's character sketches of all five women are engaging, her attention to detail and itineraries comprehensive. She is an excellent storyteller: descriptions are vivid and her knowledge of the sources is extensive.

Stunning... [Weir has] brought those five queens to life like never before. I just raced through it - it has all the drama and suspense of a novel.

Tracy Borman, praise for QUEENS OF THE CRUSADES

[A] historian who has achieved popularity without sacrificing scholarly precision... She writes with the dramatic intensity of a novelist.

The Times - praise for QUEENS OF THE CRUSADES

The book that I most anticipated this year was Alison Weir's Queens of the Crusades... Told with all of Weir's characteristic verve and exceptional eye for detail, this book should find its way into every history lover's Christmas stocking.

BBC History Magazine *Books of the Year 2020* - praise for QUEENS OF THE CRUSADES

As in previous books, the exceedingly knowledgeable author's prodigious research is impressive. Another treat for Weir fans.

Kirkus Reviews, praise for QUEENS OF THE CRUSADES

Alison Weir is one of Britain’s top-selling historians. She is the author of numerous works of history and historical fiction, specialising in the medieval and Tudor periods. Her bestselling history books include The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Elizabeth of York and The Lost Tudor Princess. Her novels include Innocent Traitor, Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen and Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession. She is an Honorary Life Patron of Historic Royal Palaces and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She lives and works in Surrey.

The third volume of Alison Weir&rsquo;s magisterial history of the queens of medieval England. 
 
&lsquo;Weir&rsquo;s history books are as gripping as novels&rsquo; The Times 
 
Medieval queens were seen as mere dynastic trophies &ndash; yet, as Alison Weir shows in this group biography, many of the Plantagenet queens of the High Middle Ages dramatically broke away from the restrictions imposed on their sex. 
 
Using personal letters and fascinating sources, Weir evokes the lives of these five extraordinary women: Marguerite of France, Isabella of France, Philippa of Hainault, Anne of Bohemia and Isabella of Valois. At the same time, she recreates a truly astonishing period of history &ndash; the turbulent, brutal Age of Chivalry. 
 
&lsquo;Places the reader in the midst of&hellip;complex, gripping events, telling the stories of five royal wives who lived through them&rsquo; BBC History 
 
&lsquo;Weir is an excellent storyteller&rsquo; Spectator

Eleanor of Aquitaine and her Successors

Queens of the Crusades

The next volume in Alison Weir's magisterial history of the queens of Medieval England - including the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, the subject of Alison's most successful book.

Stunning... [Weir has] brought those five queens to life like never before.  I just raced through it - it has all the drama and suspense of a novel.

[A] historian who has achieved popularity without sacrificing scholarly precision... She writes with the dramatic intensity of a novelist.

The book that I most anticipated this year was Alison Weir's Queens of the Crusades... Told with all of Weir's characteristic verve and exceptional eye for detail, this book should find its way into every history lover's Christmas stocking.

BBC History Magazine *Books of the Year 2020*

As in previous books, the exceedingly knowledgeable author's prodigious research is impressive. Another treat for Weir fans.

This meticulous group biography of the first five Plantagenet queens of England brushes away long-standing legends. Weir skillfully documents the political, religious, and cultural issues of medieval England and France.

'Stunning... Weir has brought those five queens to life like never before. I just raced through it - it has all the drama and suspense of a novel' Tracy Borman 
 
Crusading queens, queens in rebellion against their king, queen seductresses, learned queens, queens in battle - the Plantagenet queens broke through medieval constraints to exercise power and influence, for good and sometimes for ill. 
 
 Beginning with the formidable Eleanor of Aquitaine whose marriage to Henry II sows the seeds for some of the most destructive family conflicts in history and ending with Eleanor of Castile, the grasping but beloved wife of Edward I, Alison Weir's ground-breaking history of the queens of medieval England provides an enthralling new perspective on a dramatic period of high romance and sometimes low politics, with determined women at its heart.

Find out the truth about Henry VIII’s wives

The Six Wives of Henry VIII

Thoroughly researched and with a real understanding of the times these six fascinating women lived through, Alison Weir's book reveals a Tudor England where personal needs and private emotion could, and frequently did, override or influence national events.

At last we have the truth about Henry VIII's wives. This book is as reliable and scholarly as it is readable

An entertaining account of Henry VIII's complicated domestic history. It is full of interesting detail - Alison Weir's treatment of this perennially fascinating subject is a beguiling one

One of the most powerful monarchs in British history, Henry VIII ruled England in unprecedented splendour. 
 
In this remarkable composite biography, Alison Weir brings Henry's six wives vividly to life, revealing each as a distinct and compelling personality in her own right. Drawing upon the rich fund of documentary material from the Tudor period, The Six Wives of Henry VIII shows us a court where personal needs frequently influenced public events and where a life of gorgeously ritualised pleasure was shot through with ambition, treason and violence. 
 
'At last we have the truth about Henry VIII's wives. This book is as reliable and scholarly as it is readable' Evening Standard

An intriguing deep dive into Queen Elizabeth I’s life as a woman and a monarch

Elizabeth, the Queen

A brilliant book about one of England's most famous queens, from one of our bestselling historians.

Excellent...intricate and absorbing...An elegant, shrewd and wonderfully vivacious book.

An excellent account of the greatest of England's remarkable great queens.

An informative and entertaining biography.

Full, fair and judicious and particularly good on Elizabeth's private life.

Fantastic and fascinating! Alison Weir's great talent is to pack in details without losing readability...highly recommended

Elizabeth the Queen begins as the young Elizabeth ascends the throne in the wake of her sister Mary's disastrous reign - both a woman and a queen, Elizabeth's story is an extraordinary phenomenon in a patriarchal age. 
 
From Elizabeth's intriguing, long-standing affair with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to her dealings - sometimes comical, sometimes poignant - with her many suitors, her rivalry with Mary, Queen of Scots, and her bizarre relationship with the Earl of Essex, thirty years her junior, here, in rich, vivid and colourful detail, Alison Weir helps us comes as close as we shall ever get to knowing what Elizabeth I was like as a person. 
 
'Excellent...intricate and absorbing...An elegant, shrewd and wonderfully vivacious book.' The Times

And the Murder of Lord Darnley

Mary Queen of Scots

Bestselling historian Alison Weir turns her attention to Mary, Queen of Scots and one of the great mysteries of the 16th century.

I’m impressed by an intellect that can assimilate such a wealth of material and turn it into a cohesive narrative.

A monumental piece of historical detective work

Weir tells the famous story grippingly, with clarity and pace

An engrossing historical whodunnit combined with a richly textured portrait of an age

As a vivid re-assessment of Scotland's greatest historical mystery, this is a riveting read

On the night of 10 February 1567 an explosion devastated the Edinburgh residence of Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. 
 
Found naked amongst the destruction, the bodies of Darnley and his valet bore marks of strangulation. Alison Weir's investigation of Darnley's murder is set against one of the most dramatic periods in British history. Her conclusions shed a brilliant new light on the actions and motives of the conspirators and, in particular, the extent of Mary's own involvement. 
 
'A monumental piece of historical detective work' Observer

King and Court

Henry VIII

'Alison Weir is one of our best popular historians and one, moreover, with an impressive scholarly pedigree in Tudor history...her latest offering is a very fine book' - Frank McLynn, Independent

A glittering evocation of the Tudor Court, its splendour as well as its vulgarity...a responsive, rounded portrait

A compelling, readable account of the life and times of the king who put England firmly on the map of power politics... Good history books ought to change the way we look at ourselves and our nation's past. Henry VIII: King and Court is one such book

Weir provides immense satisfaction. She writes in a pacy, vivid style, engaging the heart as well as the mind

Henry VIII, renowned for his command of power and celebrated for his intellect, presided over one of the most magnificent–and dangerous–courts in Renaissance Europe. 
 
Never before has a detailed, personal biography of this charismatic monarch been set against the cultural, social, and political background of his glittering court. Now Alison Weir brings to vibrant life the turbulent, complex figure of the King. Packed with colourful description, meticulous in historical detail, rich in pageantry, intrigue, passion, and luxury, Weir brilliantly renders King Henry VIII, his court, and the fascinating men and women who vied for its pleasures and rewards. 
 
'Alison Weir is one of our best popular historians and one, moreover, with an impressive scholarly pedigree in Tudor history...her latest offering is a very fine book' - Frank McLynn, Independent

The Heirs of King Henry VIII 1547-1558

Children of England

A sequel to The Six Wives of Henry VIII, this vivid and compelling book tells the story of Henry's children and those of his sister Mary - popular history at its best.

When Henry VIII died in 1547, he left three highly intelligent children to succeed him in turn, to be followed, if their lines failed, by the descendants of his sister, Mary Tudor. 
 
Picking up from the point that The Six Wives of Henry VIII left off, Children of England covers the period up to Elizabeth's ascension to the throne in 1558. Making use of a huge variety of contemporary sources, Alison Weir brings to life one of the most extraordinary periods of English history, when each of Henry's heirs was potentially the tool of powerful political or religious figures, and when the realm was seething with intrigue and turbulent change. 
 
'Recounted with her usual lively thoroughness by Alison Weir, my favourite Tudor historian' Philippa Gregory

Recounted with her usual lively thoroughness by Alison Weir, my favourite Tudor historian

With impressive narrative skill, Alison Weir pilots her readers through the ceaseless tides of intrigue which surged around the four heirs of King Henry VIII. Her mastery of detail brings their tempestuous lives into sharp focus from a distance of four centuries... This is full-blooded history

She writes in an engaging way and adopts an even-handed approach

Alison Weir is one of our best popular historians and one, moreover, with an impressive scholarly pedigree in Tudor history

Weir provides immense satisfaction. She writes in a pacy, vivid style, engaging the heart as well as the mind. This, her fourth book on the Tudors, affirms her pre-eminence in that field

'Recounted with her usual lively thoroughness by Alison Weir, my favourite Tudor historian' Philippa Gregory 
 
When Henry VIII died in 1547, he left three highly intelligent children to succeed him in turn, to be followed, if their lines failed, by the descendants of his sister, Mary Tudor. 
 
Children of England begins at the point where The Six Wives of Henry VIII came to an end and covers the period until Elizabeth succeeded to the throne in 1558. Making use of a huge variety of contemporary sources, Alison Weir brings to life one of the most extraordinary periods of English history, when each of Henry's heirs was potentially the tool of powerful political or religious figures, and when the realm was seething with intrigue and turbulent change.

A Tudor Christmas

Allow Alison Weir and Siobhan Clarke to guide you through a Tudor Christmas wonderland in this beautifully illustrated gift book

BBC History Magazine, **Books of the Year**

My favourite fireside read on the run-up to Yule… From food and festivities to religion and the origins of customs, this book has it all

Northern Soul, *Christmas Gift Guide 2023*

Alison Weir is one of Britain’s top-selling historians. She is the author of numerous works of history and historical fiction, specialising in the medieval and Tudor periods. 
 
Siobhan Clarke has worked as a lecturer and guide for Historic Royal Palaces for seventeen years, writing tours and lectures on Hampton Court Palace, the Tower of London and the Banqueting House, Whitehall Palace.

Christmas in Tudor times was a period of feasting, revelry and merrymaking ‘to drive the cold winter away’. A carnival atmosphere presided at court, with a twelve-day-long festival of entertainments, pageants, theatre productions and ‘disguisings’, when even the king and queen dressed up in costume to fool their courtiers. Throughout the festive season, all ranks of subjects were freed for a short time from everyday cares to indulge in eating, drinking, dancing and game-playing. 
 
We might assume that our modern Christmas owes much to the Victorians. In fact, as Alison Weir and Siobhan Clarke reveal in this fascinating book, many of our favourite Christmas traditions date back much further. Carol-singing, present-giving, mulled wine and mince pies were all just as popular in Tudor times, and even Father Christmas and roast turkey dinners have their origins in this period. The festival was so beloved by English people that Christmas traditions survived remarkably unchanged in this age of tumultuous religious upheaval. 
 
Beautifully illustrated with original line drawings throughout, this enchanting compendium will fascinate anyone with an interest in Tudor life – and anyone who loves Christmas.

The extraordinary women who changed the course of English history 1066 - 1167

Queens of the Conquest

Full of passion and betrayal, murder and war, the first volume of an epic new series from bestselling historian Alison Weir, bringing five of England's medieval queens to life.

Brings England's Norman queens out of the shadows and dazzlingly to life. Drawing on a wealth of fascinating contemporary sources, Alison Weir presents the drama, passion and intrigue of these extraordinary women's lives and restores them to their rightful place in history. A masterpiece.

Another polished, fascinating gem from Weir herself, the queen of history writing.

Alison Weir's hugely popular history books are as gripping as novels

[A] riveting history of the century following the Norman Conquest

Alison Weir has the rare gift of being able to bring history vividly to life

Alison Weir is one of our best popular historians and one, moreover, with an impressive scholarly pedigree

Full of passion and betrayal, murder and war, the first volume of an epic new series from bestselling historian Alison Weir, bringing five of England's medieval queens to life. 
 
A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year 
 
Love, murder, war, betrayal 
 
This is the story of the five extraordinary queens who helped the Norman kings of England rule their dominions. Recognised as equal sharers in the royal authority, their story is packed with tragedy, high drama, even comedy. 
 
Heroines, villains, stateswomen, lovers 
 
Beginning with Matilda of Flanders, who supported William the Conqueror in his invasion of England in 1066, and culminating in the turbulent life of the Empress Maud, whoc claimed to be queen of England in her own right and fought a bitter war to the end, the five Norman queens are revealed as hugely influential figures and fascinating characters. 
 
In Alison Weir's hands, these pioneering women reclaim their rightful roles at the centre of English history.

A Life of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox

The Lost Tudor Princess

The captivating life of Margaret Douglas - a life of scandal, political intrigue and royal romance that spanned five Tudor reigns.

With a fine eye for period detail, Weir chronicles the romances, scandals and intrigues that saw five Tudor reigns.

Alison Weir has done us a favor by reviving the story of this extraordinary woman… This is a substantial, detailed biography of a fascinating woman who lived her extraordinary life to the full.

Weir balances historical data with emotional speculation to illuminate the ferocious dynastic ambitions and will to power that earned her subject a place in the spotlight.

A magnificent and thorough study by a sharp historian.

A fine writer with a wonderful gift for description

A refreshing perspective on an otherwise unfamiliar period of British history

Weir brings this astonishing and wild woman to glorious life.

I thought I knew the Tudors, but Weir manages, delightfully, to spring a string of surprises.

Casts a fascinating light on one of the key characters of the Tudor age.

The reliably readable Alison Weir shines a spotlight upon the life of Margaret Douglas… [and] captures a lifetime spanning five Tudor reigns.

Weir’s lucidly written biography pays attention to seemingly every detail of Lady Margaret’s life… A worthy contribution to an enduringly popular genre of viewing history.

Alison Weir brings Margaret Douglas’s captivating character out of the shadows.

‘Alison Weir's sound scholarship and storyteller's gift for rich, telling detail constantly engages and enthrals the reader’ The Times 
 
The captivating life of Margaret Douglas - a life of scandal, political intrigue and royal romance that spanned five Tudor reigns. 
 
Royal Tudor blood ran in her veins. Some thought Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, should be queen of England. 
 
She ranked high at the court of her uncle, Henry VIII, and was lady of honour to five of his wives. Beautiful and tempestuous, she created scandal - twice - by falling in love with unsuitable men. 
 
Throughout her life her dynastic ties to two crowns proved hazardous. A born political intriguer, she was imprisoned in the Tower of London three times, once under sentence of death. Her husband and son were brutally murdered, she warred with two queens, and proved instrumental in securing the Stuart succession to the throne of England for her grandson. 
 
Alison Weir brings Margaret Douglas's captivating character out of the shadows for the first time.

The Marriage Game

Bestselling historian Alison Weir brings Elizabeth I to vivid life in a novel of intrigue, sex, plots, mysteries and tragedies, with all the colour and pageantry of the Tudor court.

[Weir] gets right inside the head of the Virgin Queen. The reader has a blissful sense of seeing history as it happens.

Politics, historical detail and unfulfilled love in Alison Weir's endlessly fascinating account of Elizabeth I's attempt reconcile her personal passions with public life . . . The sheer weight of Weir’s scholarship underpins the narrative, making it endlessly fascinating.

The captivating, tempestuous, often hilarious and ultimately poignant story of the extraordinary love affair between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley

With the vogue for Tudor history at its height, this is a brilliant novel that focuses on the volatile relationship with Elizabeth I and the charismatic Lord Dudley.

Based on in-depth knowledge of Elizabeth’s court, and the intrigues that swirled around it, the novel has the benefit of both verisimilitude and captivating story-telling.

Alison Weir brings all her knowledge of Elizabeth I to vivid life . . . The Marriage Game is a dramatic, complex and deeply poignant tale of intrigue, love and loss. Fantastic.

Bestselling historian Alison Weir brings Elizabeth I to vivid life in a novel of intrigue, sex, plots, mysteries and tragedies, amid all the colour and pageantry of the Tudor court. 
 
'[Weir] gets right inside the head of the Virgin Queen. The reader has a blissful sense of seeing history as it happens.' - Kate Saunders, The Times 
 
It was an affair that shocked the world. 
 
Elizabeth I is the most sought-after bride in Europe. But though she is formidably intelligent, brave and tempestuous, she is desperately insecure. The tragic events in her past mean she cannot give herself to any man, and yet she relishes the thrill of the chase, the lure of forbidden fruit. 
 
And so, using sex and high-powered diplomacy, she plays what becomes known as the 'Marriage Game', dangling suitors to keep them friendly to her kingdom, while holding them off indefinitely. 
But playing this tantalising game with the married Robert Dudley, the son and grandson of traitors, could cost her the throne…

The First Tudor Queen

Elizabeth of York

Britain’s foremost female historian reveals the true story of this key figure in the Wars of the Roses and the Tudor dynasty who began life a princess, spent her youth as a bastard fugitive, but who finally married the first Tudor king and was the mother of Henry VIII.

The compelling drama of Elizabeth’s life, the traumatic perils she faced as a young woman, the murder of her brothers by Richard III and the later mystery of Perkin Warbeck, are richly presented.

A meticulous scholar... Weir sincerely admires her subject, doing honor to an almost forgotten queen

The great asset of this book is the combination of the political and the personal… Weir is a fine writer with a wonderful gift for description.

Weir has a shrewd sense of what will seize the imagination of the keen historical amateur.

Weir adheres to the conventional story without giving much weight to new theories, preferring instead to stick with the facts about daily life for a Plantagenet princess-turned-Tudor queen.

[Weir] has a good eye for period detail – and her re-creation of the late 15th century domestic and ceremonial world is terrific.

A new perspective…underpinned by the same careful delineation between facts and speculation observed in her biographies.

Weir builds an intriguing picture of this queen, placing her in the magnificent but often brutal world she inhabited.

Alison Weir’s comprehensive, compelling and very readable portrait of Elizabeth reveals not just her life and times but the woman behind the myth.

Once again, [Weir] perfectly combines the dramatic colour and timing of an historical novelist with the truth to fact of a scrupulous historian.

This biography of Edward IV’s daughter neatly bridges Alison Weir’s previous books on the Plantagenets and Tudors… Behind the book’s easy style there is some serious scholarship.

Weir’s sympathetic and detailed biography reassesses the life of a woman whose role in public life…has been underrated by historians

‘Weir perfectly combines the dramatic colour and timing of an historical novelist with the truth to fact of a scrupulous historian’ The Times 
 
Britain’s foremost female historian reveals the true story of this key figure in the Wars of the Roses and the Tudor dynasty who began life a princess, spent her youth as a bastard fugitive, but who finally married the first Tudor king and was the mother of Henry VIII. 
 
Elizabeth of York would have ruled England, but for the fact that she was a woman. Heiress to the royal House of York, she schemed to marry Richard III, the man who had deposed and probably killed her brothers, and it is possible that she then conspired to put Henry Tudor on the throne. 
 
Yet after marriage to Henry VII, which united the royal houses of Lancaster and York, a picture emerges of a model consort - mild, pious, generous and fruitful. It has been said that Elizabeth was distrusted by Henry VII and her formidable mother-in-law, Margaret Beaufort, but contemporary evidence shows that Elizabeth was, in fact, influential. 
 
Alison Weir builds an intriguing portrait of this beloved queen, placing her in the context of the magnificent, ceremonious, often brutal, world she inhabited, and revealing the woman behind the myth.

Richard III and the Princes in the Tower

Alison Weir investigates one of the most enduring murder mysteries in English history - the death of the lost Princes in the tower, nephews of Richard III, whose body has recently been discovered.

Alison Weir has examined all the contemporary and near-contemporary chronicles with care. Her book, lucidly written and well-researched, makes absorbing reading

Readers of this book will care as much about two small boys foully done to death as the identity of their murderer… A deeply researched reappraisal

Includes a new foreword by the author 
 
The story of the death, in sinister circumstances, of the boy-king Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, is one of the most fascinating murder mysteries in English history. It is a tale with profound moral and social consequences, rich in drama, intrigue, treason, scandal and violence. 
 
In this gripping book Alison Weir re-examines all the evidence - including that against the Princes' uncle, Richard III, whose body was recently discovered beneath a Leicester car park. She brilliantly reconstructs the whole chain of events leading to their murder and reveals how, why and by whose order they died. 
 
Previously published as The Princes in the Tower

A Dangerous Inheritance

Two women separated by time are linked by the most famous murder mystery in history. A new novel by the bestselling author of The Captive Queen and The Princes in the Tower

Stunning . . . spine-tingling . . . A richly layered cake of love, sex, danger, death and mystery

Two women separated by time are linked by the most famous murder mystery in history, the Princes in the Tower. 
 
Lady Katherine Grey has already suffered more than her fair share of tragedy. Newly pregnant, she has incurred the wrath of her formidable cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, who sees her as a rival to her insecure throne. 
 
Alone in her chamber in the Tower, she finds old papers belonging to a kinswoman of hers, Kate Plantagenet, who forty years previously had embarked on a dangerous quest to find what really happened to her cousins, the two young Princes who had last been seen as captives in the Tower. 
 
But time is not on Kate's side - nor on Katherine's either ...

'The Great and Infamous Whore'

Mary Boleyn

The first full-scale biography of Mary Boleyn, one of the most misunderstood figures of the Tudor period, by the UK's bestselling female historian, Alison Weir.

A comprehensive exploration of the myth surrounding her subject

Weir is particularly good at piecing together historical mysteries, and this penetrating portrait of a much-misunderstood woman set against the riveting background of the Tudor court is a real eye opener

Weir states correctly that this book is as much a historiography as it is a biography

Sister to Anne Boleyn and seduced by two kings, Mary Boleyn has long been the subject of scandal and myth. Her affair with Henry VIII fuelled the shocking annulment of his marriage to Anne, and Mary is rumoured to have borne his child in secret. 
 
In this, the first full-length biography of Mary Boleyn, Alison Weir explodes much of the mythology that surrounds her subject's notoriety. Her extensive research gives us a new and detailed portrayal, revealing Mary as one of hte most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age. 
 
From the internationally bestselling author of Eleanor of Aquitaine.

She-Wolf of France, Queen of England

Isabella

The first full-length biography of a much maligned - but astonishingly colourful - Queen of England.

This meticulous no-nonsense biography presents a fascinating story complete with puzzles

A beautifully nuanced portrait of a fascinating lady... gives a vivid sense of the riotous realpolitik of medieval times

This is history which reads like a novel. Weir writes lucidly, with an eye for the details which bring the period to life

Described by Christopher Marlowe as the 'She-Wolf of France', Isabella was one of the most notorious femme fatales in history. According to popular legend, her angry ghost can be glimpsed among church ruins, clutching the beating heart of her murdered husband. But how did Isabella aquire this reputation? 
 
Born in 1292 she married Edward II of England but was constantly humiliated by his relationships with male favourites and she lived adulterously with Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. Had it not been for her unfaithfulness, history might have immortalised her as a liberator- the saviour who unshackled England from a weak and vicious monarch. 
 
Dramatic and startling this first full-length biography of Isabella will change the way we think of her and her world forever.

The Captive Queen and Eleanor of Aquitaine

A special bundle of one fiction and one non-fiction title from bestselling historian Alison Weir, both exploring the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine

A special bundle of one fiction and one non-fiction title from bestselling historian Alison Weir, both exploring the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine. 
 
The Captive Queen: 
 
It is the year 1152 and a beautiful woman of thirty, attended by only a small armed escort, is riding southwards through what is now France, leaving behind her crown, her two young daughters and a shattered marriage to Louis of France, who had been more like a monk than a king, and certainly not much of a lover. This woman is Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and her sole purpose now is to return to her vast duchy and marry the man she loves, Henry Plantagenet, a man destined for greatness as King of England. Theirs is a union founded on lust which will create a great empire stretching from the wilds of Scotland to the Pyrenees. It will also create the devil's brood of Plantagenets - including Richard Cœur de Lion and King John - and the most notoriously vicious marriage in history. 
 
Eleanor of Aquitaine: 
 
Wife of Louis VII of France and subsequently of Henry II of England and mother of Richard the Lionheart, Eleanor played a prominent part in the politics of the 12th century. In her biography, Alison Weir brings all the colour and ever-present dangers of Eleanor's world to life, filling the text with absorbing background detail and revelatory contemporary anecdotes. The result is a fresh and thoughtful perspective on the energetic 82 years of life of a determined and ambitious woman living with the sexism, excesses and violence of a society in which the word of a single man could condemn thousands to be put to death.

The Captive Queen

A top ten bestselling novelist and historian recreates in fiction the most extraordinary and tempestuous marriage in history

A vibrant historical novel that explores the rocky relationship between Henry Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose union produced King John and Richard the Lionheart

A tumultous tale, told here with insight, empathy, vitality and vision . . . A brilliant portrayal of a marriage in meltdown

Alison Weir deserves the large and loyal popular following for her readable historical biographies . . . Eleanor of Aquitaine is the most fabulous (literally) of subjects

It is the year 1152, and a beautiful woman rides through France, fleeing her crown, her two young daughters and a shattered marriage. 
 
Her husband, Louis of France has been more monk than monarch, and certainly not a lover. Now Eleanor of Aquitaine has one sole purpose: to return to her duchy and marry the man she loves, Henry Plantagenet, destined for greatness as King of England. It will be a union founded on lust, renowned as one of the most vicious marriages in history, and it will go on to forge a great empire and a devilish brood. 
 
This is a story of the making of nations, and of passionate conflicts: between Henry II and Thomas Becket; between Eleanor and Henry's formidable mother Matilda; between father and sons, as Henry's children take up arms against him - and finally between Henry and Eleanor herself.

The Princes In The Tower

The mystery of the Princes in the Tower is a cause of outrage as well as a whodunnit-a deeply researched appraisal.

Alison Weir has examined all the contemporary and near-contemporary chronicles with care - Her book, lucidly written and well-researched, makes absorbing reading.

The story of the death, in sinister circumstances, of the boy-king Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, is one of the most fascinating murder mysteries in English history. It is a tale with profound moral and social consequences, rich in drama, intrigue, treason, scandal and violence. 
 
 In this gripping book Alison Weir re-examines all the evidence - including that against the Princes' uncle, Richard III, whose body was recently discovered beneath a Leicester car park. She brilliantly reconstructs the whole chain of events leading to their murder and reveals how, why and by whose order they died.

Elizabeth, The Queen and The Lady Elizabeth

A special bundle of one fiction and one non-fiction title from betselling historian Alison Weir, both centred around Elizabeth I

Excellent...intricate and absorbing... An elegant, shrewd and wonderfully vivacious book.

A special bundle of one fiction and one non-fiction title from betselling historian Alison Weir, both centred around Elizabeth I: 
 
The Lady Elizabeth: 
 
England, 1536. Home to the greatest, most glittering court in English history. But beneath the dazzling façade lies treachery... Elizabeth Tudor is daughter to Henry VIII, the most powerful king England has ever known. She is destined to ascend the throne, and deferred to as the King`s heiress, but that all changes when her mother Anne Boleyn - Henry`s great passion and folly - is executed for treason. A pawn in the savage game of Tudor power politics, she is disinherited, declared a bastard, and left with only her quick wits to rely on for her very existence. But Elizabeth is determined to survive, to foil those who want to destroy her, or who are determined to use her as a puppet for their own lethal ambition, and to reclaim her birthright... 
 
Elizabeth, the Queen: 
 
This book begins as the young Elizabeth ascends the throne in the wake of her sister Mary's disastrous reign. Elizabeth is portrayed as both a woman and a queen, an extraordinary phenomenon in a patriarchal age. Alison Weir writes of Elizabeth's intriguing, long-standing affair with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, of her dealings - sometimes comical, sometimes poignant - with her many suitors, of her rivalry with Mary, Queen of Scots, and of her bizarre relationship with the Earl of Essex, thirty years her junior. 
 
Rich in detail, vivid and colourful, this book comes as close as we shall ever get to knowing what Elizabeth I was like as a person.

Alison Weir

The breadth and depth of Weir’s knowledge, however lightly she might wear it, are staggering – this is the kind of book every historian wishes they had written... Weir manages to make this well-trodden ground feel new, and achingly human.

Alison Weir brings her series on England’s medieval queens to a triumphant conclusion by showcasing the lives of five very different women who wore the consort’s crown. Love, lust, betrayal, treason, witchcraft, war, loss, despair … it’s all here, brought enthrallingly to life by Weir’s meticulous research and her eye for detail”

A gripping new account of England's medieval queens that brings a dazzling cast of characters vividly to life. These are women who broke the mould, wielding power not just as the wives of kings but in their own right, and in doing so changing the course of English history forever. This is history and storytelling at their absolute best.

Tracy Borman, author of ELIZABETH'S WOMEN

The breadth and depth of Weir’s knowledge, however lightly she might wear it, are staggering – this is the kind of book every historian wishes they had written

The Consorts of Lancaster and York, 1403-85

'This is history and storytelling at their absolute best' Tracy Borman 
'Triumphant' Catherine Hanley 
'One of our greatest popular historians' Daily Mail 
 
Triumph and tragedy, love and loss, murder and malice in the lives of five fifteenth-century queens 
 
Joan of Navarre, Katherine of Valois, Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth Widville and Anne Neville were the queens at the heart of the turbulent English royal court. Five very different women, they were each caught up in wars, manoeuvres and losses that changes the course of history. 
 
But they also wielded their own power, defying the limitations of their times and often living out the brutal consequences of their determination. 
 
In this gripping finale to her acclaimed series on the queens of medieval England, Alison Weir uncovers how these formidable women shaped history from the throne. 
 
'The breadth and depth of Weir’s knowledge, however lightly she might wear it, are staggering’ TLS 
 
The perfect Christmas gift for history lovers, with colour illustrations

Alison Weir

Books by Alison Weir

Series by Alison Weir

England's Medieval Queens

Articles featuring Alison Weir

Books to read if you loved Hilary Mantel’s ‘The Mirror & The Light’

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