An account of the political pressures of Tudor times.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The title and description of this book was very misleading. I thought it would be focussed on Elizabeth, who is one of the most fascinating figures in English history.
Instead, it was a broad look at important figures during the Tudor years. Starting with Elizabeth's father Henry VIII.
I did like that it looked into the lives of his six wives, and they all had different approaches to being part of the royal court, with very different fates. The book presents that this was educational for Elizabeth, that other intelligent women use their own strengths, and show the effects of those around them. But the fact that the lesson was aimed at Elizabeth was just tagged onto the end of each piece, to make it "relevant" and in-keeping with the title.

This is followed by the reign of Edward, Jane Grey and Mary. Each fully-dissected, with heavy focus on the religious uproar this royal family caused.
There is also a lot of time spent on the courtiers and nobles who managed to gain influence, shaping the future of the English crown with their greed.
Each section is well-researched, and for the most part Brennan writes in an informative manner that does not get overly bogged down, as some non-fiction accounts can.

Brennan supports her writing with several pieces of first-hand accounts, including letters from the people she is writing about.
Most of these are interesting, but I did feel like the narrative lost its fluidity, as Brennan sometimes (but not always) includes annotations or her own thoughts; whilst at other times leaving us to read the raw material. Honestly, I preferred the unedited pieces, which could have been followed by a concise paragraph of Brennan's interpretation. Instead, I was left feeling like sections of this book were private notes taken on a History course.

I found that the narrative jumped around, both chronologically, and in the timeline of any particular movement/person.

Elizabeth I is a legend, who has been covered in books and media countless times. I commend Brennan for trying to take a new approach to describing the background influences, when Elizabeth was a shunned princess; but I felt that the execution could have been better.
Overall, I think the book lost sight at who it was aimed at, drifting between different characters and events that didn't always add to Elizabeth's history.

This new biography of Elizabeth I doesn’t plan to give the reader a detailed look into her life and reign, or the social, economic, and political difficulties and changes that accompanied her Golden Age as queen.Or in-fact, why her reIgn is considered a Golden age in England. Instead, this book briefly gives readers a look at the events surrounding her life and some of the ways that they may have effected her choices as queen. Brennan argues that Elizabeth learned from watching her father, Henry VIII with his wives, then her half siblings and cousin in their reigns to become an adaptable monarch who learned from her mistakes, and those of others, to become one of England’s greatest queens. Brennan focuses much of her research and attention on religious aspects of the time and the fighting between Catholics and Protestants on national and international stages.

‘Elizabeth I’ is written for audiences just discovering this English queen, looking for a brief overview without getting into too heavy details or politics. In this it mostly succeeds, although anything on the changes Elizabeth made to strengthen England socially might have made it more interesting. Hopefully the final book (I read an ARC) is better edited than what I read, because my advanced copy was often awkwardly written, poorly edited, and repetitive enough to believe that the author didn’t think much of her audience’s attention span or intelligence. If those change in the final version, than this would be a book I could recommend to those not overly interested in history as a way to inspire interest in the real people behind the dates and events.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

Once again my thanks to the Author publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.
This is undoubtedly a well researched book, well written with a real feel of history and for the time and place. However the famous 'Virgin Queen' of the title goes AWOL for great chunks of the book, due to details of her father's various Queens after her Mother, her half siblings, Lady Jane Grey, and of course Mary Queen of Scots. I accept they all played parts in what made Elizabeth the Woman and Queen she would become, and whilst it is very interesting and engaging i feel this left the reader somewhat short changed.
Interesting.

The big plus for me on this book is that it’s highly accessible, and an easy introduction to the events that influenced Elizabeth’s life and reign. However for me it felt more like a ‘dip in’ type of book than a narrative read, yet not weighty enough to be an academic tome. I’m really not sure how to categorise it - if you want more detail around the life of Elizabeth I you might start here.

Elizabeth I : the making of a queen is a fascinating, compelling account of the events that occurred around Queen Elizabeth I and of the people in her life that made her the queen and woman that she was.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and did so from cover to cover. You get the sense that the author is extremely familiar with Tudor history because the story just seems to flow from her pen, providing great overviews of significant events. I dislike history books that give quote after quote from sources used, making you suspect that the writer did not have a good enough feel or understanding about their subjects to be able to write using their own words. Quotes were not overused in Laura Brennan's book.

Definitely not an academic book and definitely one to be read and enjoyed.

Thank you Netgalley and Pen and Sword for the ARC. This is my honest review.

I was interested in reading this book because I am very fond of Tudor monarchs and the history of that time. I hoped to read a more historical book about Elizabeth I, because so far, I only read fictionalized books about her. This book is easy to read, because it does not go into much detail about events of that time, but it didn't meet my expectations. I wanted to read about Elizabeth, her life and accomplishments, but instead, we got to see many events that had no connections to her (e.g. relationship between Mary, Queen of Scots and Catherine de Medici). There were certainly many events that influenced her decisions and actions, but in my opinion, there was no need to talk so much about all of that. Maybe just a brief reminder and then on to HER actions?
Another thing that bothered me is the fact that the author switched between using "half-sister/brother" and "step-sister/brother", with a great emphasis on using the "step" version when talking about Elizabeth, Mary I and Edward (who were all children of Henry VIII and therefore half-siblings) and couple of times when talking about Mary, Queen of Scots and her half-brother (they shared the same father), James Stewart, Earl of Moray. I see that the author was forced to mention their relationships quite often and maybe didn't want to keep using the same term over and over, but upon checking, I see that there's a clear difference between step-siblings and half-siblings (which I knew before checking). I believe that this was unnecessary, but as I'm not a native English speaker, maybe that is common when trying to avoid repeating words?
All in all, if expecting a full-on biography about Elizabeth, this is not is, but rather we see how events happening outside England influenced her decisions in important political matters.

Ms. Brennan met my expectations and beyond , felt the book was well documented . Although I knew some of the history the research brought forth was impeccable and better than I had read before. I would highly recommend this on anybody's list whom is interested in this era .

This book talks about important events that shaped Queen Elizabeth I’s life. These include the marriages of her father, Henry VIII, her feud with Mary Queen of Scots, and her battle with King Philip I of Spain.

I was disappointed that this book showed things that happened around Elizabeth, rather than her actual life. The book is supposed to be about events that shaped her life, but there was not much reference to Elizabeth’s actual life. The explanations of how these events affected Elizabeth’s life were quite short compared to the long descriptions of what happened. Almost the entire first half of the book was about Henry VIII and his wives. He was Elizabeth’s father so he greatly shaped her life, but she didn’t live with him at that time, so she wasn’t actually present for most of the book.

There was also a lot of the author’s opinion in the book, rather than just stating the facts. There were many parts where she talked down to the reader. For example, she said that people used paintings to see what other people looked like because they didn’t have cameras. If you’re reading this book about Tudor England, it’s presumed that you know they didn’t have cameras hundreds of years ago. She didn’t need to talk down to the reader to explain things like that.

This was a disappointing book that talked about events that happened during the life of Elizabeth I, but not her actual life.

Thank you Pen and Sword for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Very well researched and well written. Focuses on a few specific events in Queen Elizabeth’s life from her youth, from her early reign and then the mid to latter part. It’s shows how she learned from the activities around her and incorporated them into her future state and also ties the various impacts together. A different approach, which I enjoyed. Recommend as a different spin on a typical Elizabethan bio.

I really enjoyed this book, it gave me a greater insight into Elizabeth's life and how early experiences could have influenced the way she acted once she was queen. I would have loved to see more detail on the analysis of Elizabeth's actions and her psychology, but this is probably me being a bit selfish as I'm fascinated by Elizabeth as a woman. It's a good read for beginners to the subject as well as those who have read more widely, as it explains the events discussed in detail as you go through the book. There is still a lot to learn here too for anyone who feels they have a good knowledge of Elizabeth's reign - I'd read about her for decades but never associated some of these earlier events with her later actions. After reading, I feel more aware of Elizabeth's thought processes and how she managed to distance herself when scandal hit the court as well as how she dealt with rebellion and her personal relationships. A great read, really enjoyed it. The link to the full review on my blog is here:

https://lovebritishhistory.blogspot.com/2020/04/elizabeth-i-review.html

Thanks again!

As a big fan of the Tudors I was very much looking forward to this book and the idea behind it.

Although I found it a good read I did come across mistakes e.g. Catherine Knollys and Catherine Howard being combined. Due to the number of mistakes I won't be posting a review on my blog as I don't like to post negative reviews.

192 pages

3 stars

This book has very little Elizabeth and much more about the history of the Tudor family and Edward and Mary's reigns. (Henry's many wives and what happened to them all.) And poor Lady Jane Grey. Which was interesting, don't get me wrong. And then we were on to Mary Queen of Scots. Far too much time spent there. I kept wondering just when we were going to get to Elizabeth.

Much has been written about Elizabeth and her Tudor family, and I have made a good effort in reading all of it. This would be a good book for beginners I think. It covers a vast area in not many pages. Just a very quick overview of the family and their “adventures.”

The writing was well done. There are some typos that will hopefully be corrected before final publication. I enjoyed the book as far as it went.

I want to thank NetGalley and Pen & Sword/Pen & Sword History for forwarding to me a copy of this book for me to read, enjoy and review.

A clear and concise account of the life of Elizabeth I , this may be a short book but it the perfect jumping off point for someone who is interested in this powerful and fascinating woman. Laura Brennan divides Elizabeth's story into two halves, her childhood and teenage years before she became Queen and then her life as a monarch. I really appreciated the author's thoughtful approach and her insights into how the people around her affected her policies and decision making,from the influences of her father Henry VIII and his various wives, most notably the last , Catherine Howard, to the strained relationships she had with her half siblings and then in later years her rivalry with Mary, Queen of Scots. Over the course of the book Brennan shows the impact of her formative years helped to shape the way she ruled as Queen, including her decision not to marry and to delay naming an heir for as long as possible. I feel that the author did a great job of breaking down a complex and often turbulent period of British history and shedding some light on one of its most fascinating and powerful figures.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I started reading this book yesterday and I am not going to be able to finish it. There were several errors I noted within the first couple of chapters that were very distracting. I will admit I am not an historian, and I have no degree in history. However, I do read quite a bit about the Tudor era, especially about Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I. I think Ms. Brennan is on the right track with her research but I find that it is incomplete.
Beginning with the timeline at the beginning of the book. The year for the Birth of a Princess is 1553, when it was 1533. That's just a basic typo.
The first chapter in the book, being titled the Birth of the a Princess is all over the place. She starts off well with Elizabeth's birth, Anne Boleyn's rise and fall (which is extremely vague, though it will shape Elizabeth's future), then she fast forwards to Elizabeth as a young woman, then back to how Henry VIII became king even though he was meant for the church, then back further to the Wars of the Roses. For someone who does not already know this history it would be very confusing to take in all of this detail, especially when it is not in chronological order. I believe prior to this chapter there should be one that includes the events prior to Henry VIII falling in love with Anne Boleyn. That way it's more organized, and easier to comprehend.
When speaking of Anne Boleyn in particular Brennan makes mention that there is only documentation that Anne was pregnant twice, however this is not true. Anne delivered Elizabeth on September 7, 1533. On the 28th of January 1534 Eustace Chapuys wrote to Charles V that Anne was pregnant. This pregnancy is also mentioned in a letter from George Taylor to Lady Lisle, in which she states, "The queen hath a goodly belly, praying our Lord to send us a prince." And in July of that year the Lord Rochford, was sent to France in hopes of delaying a meeting as Anne was so far gone in pregnancy that she could not travel. There is no evidence how the pregnancy ended (stillbirth or miscarriage). There is also a letter from 1535 of a possible miscarriage. And then on the 10th of February 1536, Eustace Chapuys wrote again to Charles V to inform him that on the day of Catherine of Aragon's funeral that Anne Boleyn miscarried.
(https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/the-pregnancies-of-anne-boleyn-and-catherine-of-aragon/)
Another issue I noted is that Brennan stated there is still great debate between historians over whether Anne was guilty of adultery. I feel like here she needs to state which historians. Because it is my understanding that the majority of historians believe that Anne was innocent and the charges against her were false.
When speaking of Anne's execution she states that Henry chose the kinder method of execution being a sword instead of an axe, assuming that the reader will know why one is better than the other. She needs to explain that the axe was not weighted properly so the stroke did not land evenly on the victims neck, and it often took more than one swing to actually sever the neck, leading to a very painful execution. She also makes mention of Anne's "damascus gown" which should be damask, and that she was buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad "Vincular" and it should be Vincula.
Further on when she speaks of Jane Seymour and her favoritism of Henry's eldest daughter Mary, she gives the impression that Elizabeth was left out, but we know that Jane used her own money to provide Elizabeth with clothing when the toddler outgrew what she had. Plus Mary was old enough to live at court and have a role there. There was no room for a toddler there, except on special occasions.
I highly suggest Brennan speak with Alison Weir about the research she did into Jane Seymour's death or at least read the Author's Note in Weir's new novel in her Six Tudor Queens series, Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen. She reviewed the records of Jane's postpartum period. There is no evidence of puerperal fever as has been claimed for years upon years. Weir had the records examined by medical professionals and came to the conclusion that Jane suffered from a sort of gastrointestinal illness in the days after delivery, probably due to something she ate. Unable to keep anything down she became dehydrated. The rules for recovery being what they were at the time, lying down, without exercise, added to the dehydration she then fell victim to a pulmonary embolism.
I think this book needs a lot more research before publication. I will not be posting a review, as I don't believe in posting negative reviews. I would however like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to review this book. I hope my critique has been helpful.

<b>DON'T LET THE TITLE FOOL YOU...

Actual rating: 2.5 ⭐</b>

Despite the title of this book, this is not a biography of Elizabeth I nor a study of how she became queen. It is, however, the story of her time. Which is perfectly fine. Just not what I had expected...

<b>👍 WHAT I LIKED 👍</b>

<u>Introduction</u>: If you already now s fair amount about the Tudors and Elizabeth, then this is not the book for you. Are you, however, a novice and looking for an introduction to the subject, then you have found your perfect match!

<b>👎 WHAT I DISLIKED 👎</b>

<u>Elizabeth who?</u>: I requested this book thinking it was going to be a biography of Elizabeth I. However, she plays very little part in this narrative. Her childhood and education is completely overlooked, giving way to the drama of her father's marriages and the tumultuous reigns of her siblings. In the first 40% of this book her name is perhaps mentioned 20-30 times. When she becomes queen, we don't get the story of her queenship, but rather the story of her cousin Mary, the religious upheavals in France and other such things. For a book named after her, she has a remarkably little role...

<u>What else is new?</u>: Elizabeth I may be one of the monarch whom most has been written about. She has been the subject of countless studies, scholarly as well as popular. So it is hard to say something new that hasn't already been said. This book failed to contribute anything new. And then, really, when it comes down to it, why are you even writing it?

This book about Queen Elizabeth I is divided into several parts, concentrating on historical and political events from before Elizabeth was born, before she became Queen, and that transpired during her 45-year reign. She saw how her father, King Henry VIII, treated his wives and watched men conspired against their wives, leaving them powerless. This inspired her to remain single, and keep her own power. England’s religious battles, and the strained relationship she had with her sister Queen Mary I are also detailed. Thus, as Queen, Elizabeth used the experiences of her past and present to help her become a strong willed Queen.

Learning about Queen Elizabeth I was interesting because I believe that it’s important to “put [what is being studied] in its time and place,” a quote attributed to my former college professor. However I disliked how Brennan jumped from one event or person to another, then circled back again a few chapter or paragraphs later with information that would have been useful to know when she first began talking about that person or event. This made the book feel disjointed.

There are interesting facts about Elizabeth I mixed in with everything else, so I will recommend it to Adult readers who want to know more about this monarch.

I received a digital advance reading copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was very informative in regard to Elizabeths family dynamics and how they affected her reign and behavior towards others especially men.

***Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for providing me a free copy of the book in exchange for a honest review***

Don't judge me for this but I am quite obsessed with Queen Elibazeth life .So ,no wonders why I was attracted towards this book.

This book seeks to explore some of the key events of her life both before and after she ascended to the English throne in late 1558. By looking at the history of these selected events, as well as investigating the influence of various people in her life, this book sets out to explain Elizabeth’s decisions, both as a queen and as a woman

If you are fan of Queen Elizabeth regime go ahead.You won't be disappointed.