Thanks to Aleksandra Mencel of St. Martin’s Press, I am giving away one copy of Heretic Queen: Queen Elizabeth I and the Wars of Religion.
Elizabeth’s 1558 coronation procession was met with an extravagant outpouring of love. Only twenty-five years old, the young queen saw herself as their Protestant savior; aiming to provide the nation with new hope, prosperity, and independence from the foreign influence that had plagued her sister Mary’s reign. Given the scars of the Reformation, Elizabeth would need all of the powers of diplomacy and tact she could summon.
HERETIC QUEEN (St. Martin’s Press; August 7, 2012) is the untold story of a momentous time in history: England’s final adaptation of the Protestant faith at the tail end of the English Reformation. At its heart is the personal battle which Queen Elizabeth I fought to maintain control of her fledgling country and secure the future of England as a world power. Susan Ronald paints the queen as a complex character whose apparent indecision was really a political tool that she wielded with great confidence.
“Ronald deftly pulls together a vast amount of historical research into a compelling narrative that’s essential reading for anyone interested in the strife-torn world in which this most fascinating queen used both wits and diplomacy to safeguard her kingdom, despite almost insurmountable odds.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review!
“Ronald serves up a worthy sequel toThe Pirate Queen…Meaty history wrapped in a palatable biographical format.”—Booklist
About Susan Ronald: