Virgin - Softcover

'Fascinating and historically accurate' Kirkus Reviews

THE QUEEN'S BASTARD:
'Breathes extraordinary life into the scandals, political intrigue and gut-wrenching battles that typified Queen Elizabeth's reign...The powerfully lascivious intersections of sexual and international politics...combined with Maxwell's electrifying prose, here make for enthralling historical fiction' Publishers Weekly

'well-researched and laced with plausible dialogue and absorbing narrative...a revived interest in the Elizabethan age make this novel highly recommended for fiction collections.' Sheila M.Riley, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., in Library Journal 1 April 1999

'Tailor-made for moviegoers delighting in Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love...Thundering dialogue supporting plot upon plot' Kirkus Reviews

'She writes with pace and passion' Yorkshire Post (Leeds)

'Very readable mix of historical fact and romantic fiction... As a piece of romantic historical fiction the book is hard to put down. As a searing question mark on the accepted history of the Virgin Queen, it is fascinating' Belfast Newsletter

Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, banished from the court at the age of two, finds an unlikely ally in her father's sixth wife, Katherine Parr. Katherine offers motherly love and protection to the young princess and her brother Edward, and works to soften her father's heart and gain her readmittance to the Tudor fold. But when Henry dies and ten-year-old Edward is crowned King of England, a new era of instability begins for the young and impressionable monarch and the sister he has left behind in Chelsea House. It is becoming increasingly clear that Katherine's new husband, Sir Thomas Seymour, has dangerous designs on the vulnerable teenage princess in his charge, and on the power to which she is the key...