The Lady Penelope - Sally Varlow

Penelope Devereux was the brightest star who ever shone in the court of Queen Elizabeth I in 16th-century England. She was the most beautiful woman of her generation and muse to countless poets and musicians, yet her story ended in tragedy: she died in disgrace on 7th July 1607, a widow, outcast from court, and stripped of all her titles. Her life touched on every great event of the age—the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the arrival of King James, and the Gunpowder Plot—and she knew many of the celebrated artistic figures of the day including William Shakespeare. Thisis a dramatic, visual, emotional, and ultimately tragic story set against the character of Queen Elizabeth I and the staged pageantry of her Court, and will have immediate appeal to lovers of historical biographies.