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Title details for The Marriage Game by Alison Weir - Wait list

The Marriage Game

by Alison Weir
Julia Franklin
Audiobook
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Wait time: About 2 weeks
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0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
Their affair is the scandal of Europe...
Queen Elizabeth cannot resist her dashing but married Master of Horse, Lord Robert Dudley. Many believe them to be lovers. The formidable young Queen is regarded by most as a bastard and a heretic, yet many seek her hand in marriage. Desperately insecure, Elizabeth embarks on a perilous balancing act, using sex and high-powered diplomacy to play what becomes known as 'the Marriage Game'.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 1, 2014

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781471275111
      • File size: 474715 KB
      • Duration: 16:28:59

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Author Weir writes about royalty in such a way that we not only understand their times and conflicts but also see into their hearts. Here, listeners follow the life of Elizabeth I from her accession to the throne to her death. Narrator Julia Franklin dramatically portrays the manipulative, capricious, and awkwardly vulnerable Elizabeth, reflecting Weir's vision of her vanity, lusts, superstitions, and fear of pregnancy. We hear loud tirades, the soft tones of lovers, regal proclamations, and, most often, the sorrowful voice of a lonely woman. Weir's view of the woman who may have been England's greatest monarch is made all the more credible by Franklin's impassioned reading. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 10, 2014
      Weir deftly follows The Lady Elizabeth, her 2008 novel about the young Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603). Here Weir trains her spotlight on Elizabeth’s equivocations over marriage from her accession to the throne in 1558 until the death of her most persistent suitor, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 30 years later. Weir posits that Elizabeth, deeply scarred by early experience, never intended to marry and had numerous personal and political reasons to avoid it. Yet her council pressured her repeatedly to provide an heir, while innumerable Catholic and Protestant courtiers and royalty sought her hand, hoping to cement an alliance. Elizabeth exasperated everyone with promises, flirting, impossible demands, and prevarication. Lively bedroom scenes and discordant council meetings reveal Elizabeth’s complexities, depicting her as a wily coquette determined to rule England alone. Mindful always of England’s interests and the vulnerability of her throne, Elizabeth made several anguished decisions regarding both “the marriage game” and her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. A nuanced portrait of Dudley, whose love for Elizabeth remained steadfast despite her vacillation and his other marriages, balances Weir’s sympathy for her subject. Weir’s credible characters and blend of the personal and political will sweep up readers of this engrossing behind-the-scenes psychological portrait of Elizabeth.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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