Elizabeth and Mary

‘She writes with vigour and grace. This is an engaging and thoughtful new rendering of a story worth retelling.’ The Spectator’This is a supercharged family romance’ Observer’Dunn’s well-established gifts as a biographer are used here with remarkable sensitivity’ Sunday Times ‘Jane Dunn has written a splendid piece of popular history with the ready-pen of a highly skilled writer, endowed with remarkable insight’ Roy Strong, Daily Mail’Jane Dunn handles her subject with tremendous flair. She is a supremely accomplished stylist, who writes with poise and assurance. Her book is artfully structured, sinuously weaving the lives of its two protagonists in a manner which illustrates the parallels between them while explaining why their careers were so divergent…A deeply satisfying study of royal rivalry which ended in tragedy for both parties.’ Literary Review’Dunn has a novelist’s talent for inhabiting her subjects’ lives…The story, infused with the smell of parchment and wax seals, draws the reader in with a bewitching intimacy.’ Time Out’Dunn works the contrasts hard, in the process creating a kind of psychological drama in which each woman becomes a fateful reverse image of the other.’ The Guardian ‘This is a drama of power, intrigue and rivalry played out between two women monarchs in a man’s world, fluently and masterfully told.’ Manchester Evening News’Excellent … by moving between the two she reinvigorates oft-told stories and she writes with such a light and graceful touch that is a pleasure to read. Dunn makes splendid use of the worlds of contemporaries, bringing a host of characters together as the story unfolds.’ The Tablet’Fluent and beguiling…an excellent buy for anyone who wants a sensitive and reflective personal view of two of the 16th century’s best known women.’ Evening Standard

Described by the Sunday Times as ‘one of our best biographers’, Jane Dunn writes about women and their relationships, and sisters in particular. Her books include a biography of the sisters Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell and the bestseller ‘Elizabeth & Mary’, which looks at the lives of the cousin queens Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in Bath with her husband the writer and linguist, Nicholas Ostler.