Penguin Classic Biography S.
2 total works
One of the most famous and tortured romances in history - between Elizabeth I, Queen of England, and Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex - began in 1587, when she was fifty-three and he was nineteen. Their passionate affair continued for five years, until Essex was beheaded for treason in 1601. In a fast-paced succession of brilliantly rendered scenes, Lytton Strachey portrays Elizabeth and Essex's compelling attraction for each other, their impassioned disagreements and their mutual struggle for power, which culminated so tragically - for both of them. Alongside the doomed love affair, Strachey pens colourful portraits of the leading characters and influential figures of the time: Francis Bacon, Walter Raleigh, Robert Cecil and other members of her glittering court who fought to assert themselves in a kingdom and a country defined by Elizabeth's incomparable reign. Lytton Strachey here illuminates, in spellbinding prose, one of the most poignant affairs in history alongside the glamour and intrigue of the Elizabethan era.
This illustrated edition of Lytton Strachey's biography of Queen Victoria has been published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of her accession to the throne. The author shows obvious admiration and affection for Queen Victoria and this together with the use of archive material, in particular from the Royal archives at Windsor, helps to evoke the atmosphere of the period. The illustrations include advertisements, ephemera, drawings and watercolours - some by Queen Victoria herself.