Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne
The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, Good Queen Bess; Elizabeth I holds a unique  place in the English imagination as one of the nation's most powerful,  charismatic, and successful monarchs. Elizabeth usually is imagined as the icy,  untouchable figure, re-created memorably on screen by Bette Davis and Dame Judi  Dench, but that vision of Elizabeth ignores the turbulent years of her early  life, from her birth as the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn in 1533 until  her accession to the throne in 1558 after the death of her sister Mary. It is  these early years that are the subject ofDavid Starkey's  fascinatingElizabeth, which was written to accompany the television  series about her life.Starkey argues that Elizabeth, in her first 25 years, "had experienced every  vicissitude of fortune and every extreme of condition. She had been Princess and  inheritrix of England, and bastard and disinherited; the nominated successor to  the throne and an accused traitor on the verge of execution; showered with lands  and houses, and a prisoner in the Tower". He draws on his skills as a respected  Tudor historian to produce a deft account of the religious, political, and  dynastic maelstrom of mid-16th-century England that reads "like a historical  thriller." The book carefully picks its way through the finer points of  contemporary religious conflict and the peculiarities of Tudor court ceremony,  while exploring also the formation of Elizabeth's character in relation to a  murdered mother, a charismatic father, a tortured sister, and a predatory  guardian. Highly readable, and written with verve and pace, this is a fascinating  account of the young Elizabeth.--Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk