Sarah Gristwood is a regular contributor to many London publications as well as a commentator on royal and historical affairs. The author of several previous books, including Blood Sisters, Gristwood splits her time between London and Kent, United Kingdom.
Game of Queens: The Women Who Made Sixteenth-Century Europe
Paperback
(Reprint)
$17.99
- ISBN-13: 9781541697225
- Publisher: Basic Books
- Publication date: 11/07/2017
- Edition description: Reprint
- Pages: 400
- Product dimensions: 5.40(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.20(d)
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"Sarah Gristwood has written a masterpiece that effortlessly and enthrallingly interweaves the amazing stories of women who ruled in Europe during the Renaissance period."—Alison Weir
Sixteenth-century Europe saw an explosion of female rule. From Isabella of Castile, and her granddaughter Mary Tudor, to Catherine de Medici, Anne Boleyn, and Elizabeth Tudor, these women wielded enormous power over their territories, shaping the course of European history for over a century. Across boundaries and generations, these royal women were mothers and daughters, mentors and protégées, allies and enemies. For the first time, Europe saw a sisterhood of queens who would not be equaled until modern times.
A fascinating group biography and a thrilling political epic, Game of Queens explores the lives of some of the most beloved (and reviled) queens in history.
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From the Publisher
"Densely packed with fascinating material, this immensely ambitious undertaking succeeds triumphantly." —Literary Review (UK)
"A
fascinating work of world and women's history."—Booklist
"Gristwood's fresh take on a well-documented period and the achievements, failures, and relationships of some of Europe's most powerful players is intriguing,
cohesive, and accessible."—Publishers Weekly
"[Game of Queens] casts a well-researched time period in an intriguing light.... Readers of popular history, especially of Tudor England, and of women's history will find much to enjoy."—Library Journal
"Sarah Gristwood handles multiple narrative strands with tremendous finesse, dexterously synthesizing the stories of women who, in many cases, never met but whose lives intertwined in manifold ways."—Literary Review (UK)
"Game of Queens is a magnificent exploration of a most remarkable group—the women who ruled sixteenth century Europe. Sarah Gristwood gives us impeccable research,
incisive attention to detail, and exquisite writing as she investigates these truly fascinating women and their lives of courage, tribulation, and determination. Absolutely unputdownable."—Kate Williams, author of England's Mistress
"Sarah Gristwood's study of the brilliant, beleaguered,
and often bloody difficult women who kept Europe going in the sixteenth century is compelling, clear-eyed, beautifully rendered, and never-more-timely."—Jessie Childs, author of God's Traitors: Terror and Faith in Elizabethan England
"In her elegant and engaging style, she combines incisive detail with over-arching and eye-opening themes of queenship and the role of women in a male-dominated world. This book is a wonderful, timely contribution to our understanding of the period, and a pacy and illuminating good read."—Alison Weir, author of The Lost Tudor Princess
Publishers Weekly
10/03/2016Gristwood (Blood Sisters), a commentator on British royal affairs, reframes the Renaissance as an “Age of Queens” in a fast-paced chronological narrative bursting with intrigue. Opening with Spain’s Isabella of Castile (1451–1504) and concluding with England’s Elizabeth I (1533–1603), Gristwood successfully demonstrates how mentors, such as Margaret of Austria (whose court included a young Anne Boleyn), and power wielders, such as the resolute Isabella, helped influence generations of ambitious, high-ranking women through networking and clever manipulation. Some of these women (such as Louise of Savoy and Catherine de Medici) enjoyed great success, while others endured—and sometimes caused—great misery (notably Mary, Queen of Scots, and Mary I). Gristwood places each woman’s story in the context of her own realm as well as in that of contemporary Europe, using multiple sources and providing clear, impartial explanations. She sympathetically describes limited options for women, especially regarding marriages, and also bluntly details self-destructive decisions. Surprisingly, Gristwood barely mentions some of the powerful and well-known medieval queens (Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France) who preceded the women here, perhaps because too much emphasis on them would have shifted the book’s steady focus. Gristwood’s fresh take on a well-documented period and the achievements, failures, and relationships of some of Europe’s most powerful players is intriguing, cohesive, and accessible. Illus. (Dec.)
Library Journal
10/01/2016Gristwood (Blood Sisters) chronicles the unusual happenstance of the 16th century whereby most of Europe was under a female ruler's control either in her own right or as a regent. The women portrayed here are well known to history (e.g., Anne Boleyn, Isabella I of Castile, Catherine de' Medici, and Marguerite de Navarre) and are shown interacting with one another as rulers, friends, or family; playing primary roles in domestic and foreign affairs; and even creating the atmosphere for incidents such as the Ladies' Peace (1529) and the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572). It is this complex relational web of sisterhood, interwoven by the women as either mothers, daughters, or mentors, that marks the era and its historical events. This web, started in the late 1400s, was eventually broken in the latter half of the 1500s by an ideological battle that tore at the foundations of society: the Reformation. By focusing exclusively on these female figures, Gristwood argues that they are the primary movers of historical developments in this century. VERDICT While the analysis isn't groundbreaking, it casts a well-researched time period in an intriguing light. Readers of popular history, especially of Tudor England, and of women's history will find much to enjoy.—Laura Hiatt, Fort Collins, CO