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    The Life of Elizabeth I
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    The Life of Elizabeth I
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    The Life of Elizabeth I
    Audiobook24 hours

    The Life of Elizabeth I

    Written by Alison Weir

    Narrated by Davina Porter

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Perhaps the most influential sovereign England has ever known, Queen Elizabeth I remained an extremely private person throughout her reign, keeping her own counsel and sharing secrets with no one--not even her closest, most trusted advisers. Now, in this brilliantly researched, fascinating new book, acclaimed biographer Alison Weir shares provocative new interpretations and fresh insights on this enigmatic figure. Against a lavish backdrop of pageantry and passion, intrigue and war, Weir dispels the myths surrounding Elizabeth I and examines the contradictions of her character. Elizabeth I loved the Earl of Leicester, but did she conspire to murder his wife? She called herself the Virgin Queen, but how chaste was she through dozens of liaisons? She never married--was her choice to remain single tied to the chilling fate of her mother, Anne Boleyn? An enthralling epic that is also an amazingly intimate portrait, The Life of Elizabeth I is a mesmerizing, stunning reading experience.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books Audio
    Release dateJan 1, 2003
    ISBN9781470324124
    Unavailable
    The Life of Elizabeth I

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    Reviews for The Life of Elizabeth I

    4/5

    20 ratings15 reviews

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    • 1/5
      I wanted so much to love this book. I've read many books about the Tudors, a few of them written beautifully by Alison Weir and walked away afterwards knowing something new without it feeling like work. Maybe part of the reason here is the choice of narrator but the story simply lacks any substance. I struggled to make it to the next chapter with any understanding of what I had just heard. I still love Weir's books and am still obsessed with the Tudors but this one just didn't do it for me.
    • 4/5
      Alison Weir has an amazing way of drawing the reader into the life and experiences of Tudor England. A must read for anyone who wants to get a more in-depth look at Elizabethan court: its politics, romance and drama.
    • 4/5
      Very well researched, if somehow dry, account of Elizabeth life. I wish it would discuss more of internal situation in England and respective policies during her reign - relative to very detailed discussion of various marriage alternatives. But I guess it was author's intention to concentrate on Elizabeth's personal life.
    • 4/5
      The book emphases the Robert Dudley and his step son Essex and shows the development of the queen from young womanhood to old age, then death. The death of Dudley's wife Amy is dixussed in detail and the author covers the possibility that Cecil arranged Amy's death to prevent Elizabeth from marrying Dudley, though this can never be proved. Interesting read of an oft told tale.
    • 3/5
      Yes, I think this is a good book and still I only give it 3/5 stars. Why? Because it's confusing to read.Previously I read 'The Lady Elizabeth'. I loved it. I like Alison Weir's style, the book's based on facts (as far as we know them of course) and she managed to set up the characters in such a way that I could keep up with who is who.Now I've read 'Elizabeth the queen'. The style is still really good, easy to read, at times funny. No problems there. But why oh why are the events not described chronologically? I could not keep up with who was where when, what happened when (it doesn't help I'm not English, and therefore rusty on English history) and who was who.
    • 4/5
      My interest in Queen Elizabeth I has long been fed by documentaries, movies, and historical fiction titles such as I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles. I've always found her to be very fascinating and thought it was high time I read a biography about her. But which one do I choose? I found it serendipitous when a student at the high school library at which I'm interning checked in this extensive biography of the Virgin Queen, so I promptly checked it out myself.I'm so glad I did. I've been on a bit of a non-fiction tear lately, and this biography didn't disappoint. Weir is very thorough, covering all aspects of the queen's reign, from her foreign policy to her personal life. The most discussed topic throughout Weir's writing is Elizabeth's battle to stay unmarried. Elizabeth spends years and years doing a courtly and strategic dance with other heads of state, leading them on for as long as possible in courtships she has no intention of agreeing to in order to keep the peace with foreign nations. Weir makes an excellent point that Elizabeth has good reason to be very wary of marriage. Just look at the disastrous marriages that her father kept entering into, and what happened to her unfortunate mother! Elizabeth knew that in order to be the true head of her country, she must remain single. I cannot imagine the pressure she constantly felt from both her advisors and subjects to capitulate and marry.This book is recommended to all who are interested in Elizabeth and who want to read an extremely thorough narrative of the queen's private and public life.
    • 4/5
      This is a non-fiction book covering Elizabeth's forty-five year reign. However, despite it being non-fiction it also makes for an entertaining read. I have a few of Alison's books and I'd definitely recommend them, she really manages to bring history and Elizabeth to life. It seems quite accurate too. My only criticism is that in certain places she starts talking about something that happened a few years later, or goes off on tangents every now and again - I don't mind that because I find little asides about people mentioned interesting, but I know that not everyone would do! I'd still definitely recommend it as an introduction to her life, though. She seems to have been very thorough.
    • 3/5
      I usually love Alison Weir's work. The books I've read are well researched, well paced, and the historical characters have depth. She manages to give a mostly accurate view of this period in history while simultaneously telling an intelligible story from a sometimes incomplete historical record. This book, however, was 100 pages too long. I don't know if Weir intended to make Elizabeth I sound like whiny petty incompetent idiot, but that's the impression that I got from the way she wrote this book. I think I could have lived a long happy life without ever believing that the world's greatest female monarch spent all her time flirting with courtiers, being obsessed with her beauty, and later in life, letting the d-bag Essex push her around. I know that Weir purposely wanted to address Elizabeth's personal life (hence, the title) but it's kind of ridiculous to try to tell the story of a sovereign's life, especially a female sovereign, without talking about the way that sovereign governed her country.
    • 3/5
      This is the fourth Alison Weir novel that I've read and looking back, I've rated them all three stars. This is certainly not an endorsement, as the subject matter of these novels (16th century English history) is of great interest to me. Each of these works simply falls short in providing the kind of captivating reading experience that the subject matter offers. The Life of Elizabeth I is a perfect example. Someone relying on this work for their sole exposure to Elizabeth I would think that virtually her entire reign was taken up with the pretense of marriagability. In that respect, this work is very narrow and does a great disservice, not only to Elizabethan accomplishments, but to the scope 16th century life in general. In addition, analysis contained in the book is virtually non existent. As with Weir's other works, the prose consists almost entirely of short declarative statements, one after another. The style is jarring and not conducive to either entertainment or education.The same novel on a subject of lesser interest would garner only two stars, however it would be difficult to write a novel on Elizabeth rated under three stars, the subject matter is so rich with possibility. This is a swing and a miss.
    • 5/5
      January 3, 1999The Life of Elizabeth IAlison WeirThere’s so much information, it’s impossible to retain it all. Learned invaluable information about the battle between the Catholics & the Protestants, and the attempts to usurp Elizabeth with her cousin Mary Stuart. Discovered that Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII with Katherine of Aragon, was the first female monarch in England ever, and that her sanctioning of the burning of Protestants earned her the “Bloody Mary” nickname. Elizabeth was a bitch to women, and I found myself thinking of my old boss Teresa for some reason, especially when I read passages about Elizabeth’s tendency to manipulate people by freezing them out. I had forgotten, too, that Robert Dudley’s wife died a mysterious death….a plot for an Elizabethan mystery?
    • 3/5
      A good biography tha weaves history with the atual events of her life. It veered away from the more sensationalist rumors about her life and really focused on how her reign fit into the times in which she lived and effected the country for centuries to come.
    • 4/5
      Good history, assigned in my college lit class on the era of Elizabeth I.
    • 5/5
      This was a well researched, interesting book from start to finish. Alison Weir is a fantastic historian who definitely breathed life into the story of Elizabeth. She focused a great deal on Elizabeth's "personal" life (ie. romances, marriage negotiations) and showed how that impacted her "public" life (ie. the Privy Council, ruling England in general). Alison Weir also tries to answer some of the undying questions about Elizabeth and she comes to some interesting conclusions.The reader definitely gets a sense of who Elizabeth may have been and why she was so loved by her people. It's an engaging work that definitely should be read.
    • 5/5
      Brilliant biography of the "Virgin Queen." I have read several biographies on Elizabeth I (I find her fascinating), but this was teh best. Well written, very descriptive without burdening the reader, and obviously researched. All the high points of her reign, such as the destruction of the Spanish Armada, her broken engagement to "the Frog" an dmore are all here, but Weir also examines the gifts she received for Christmas, how she spent her income (frugally) and her interactions with ladies in waiting.
    • 5/5
      As usual for Alison Weir, her biography of Good Queen Bess is exhaustive and sometimes drags, but, by God, you feel like you knew the woman personally when you're done! Weir explores every aspect of Elizabeth's life in detail, vividly illustrating both Tudor England and its most famous ruler. While I'm not sure I would recommend it to someone looking for a brief or summerized account of Elizabeth's life, I would confidently call it an "authoritive" and certainly a very good biography. As for the subject of the biography, Elizabeth's story is both inspiring and, at times, exciting. An extremely effective ruler in a time when women were considered a liability on the throne, Elizabeth displayed both strength and feminine weakness at alternate times in order to manipulate parliament and her privy chamber into completing the goals she set. Her life is well worth knowing about for history buffs or the casual biography-reader.