Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 0593048881, Hardcover)

An extraordinary life lost in history: the compelling biography of Arbella Stuart spans both Tudor and Stuart courts, and encompasses espionage, a clandestine marriage, imprisonment and eventual death in the Tower of London.

Arbella Stuart was the niece of Mary Queen of Scots and first cousin to James VI of Scotland. Acknowledged as her heir by Elizabeth I, Arbella’s right to the English throne was equaled only by James. Kept under close supervision by her grandmother, but still surrounded by plots -- most of them Roman Catholic in origin -- she became an important pawn in the struggle for succession, particularly during the long, tense period when Elizabeth I lay dying. Her fate was sealed however when, upon James’s succession and having been invited back to court, Arbella made a treasonous marriage for which she was forced to flee England. She was intercepted off the coast of Calais and escorted to the Tower, where she died some years later, alone and, most probably, from starvation.

For fans of historical biography, Arbella is possibly the most romantic heroine of them all. Hers was a story just waiting to be told.

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0618341331, Hardcover)

In this U.K. bestseller, Lady Arbella Stuart emerges as a most contemporary royal, a young woman determined to shape her own destiny in the midst of her plot-ridden world.

Arbella was niece to Mary Queen of Scots and cousin to Elizabeth I — who indicated that the teenage Arbella was to be heir to her throne. A critical pawn in the struggle for succession, particularly during the long, tense period when Elizabeth lay dying, the young Arbella endured twenty-seven years of isolation at the grand Hardwick Hall, held by her scheming and powerful grandmother.

The accession of James I, Arbella's first cousin, ended the young woman's royal aspirations but thrust her into James's licentious court. Then, at age thirty-five, she risked everything to make a forbidden marriage. An escape in disguise, a wild flight abroad, and capture at sea led in the end to an agonizing death in the Tower. Yet nothing is as remarkable as the almost modern freedom with which, in a series of extraordinary letters — more passionate and extensive than those of any other woman of this suffocating age — Arbella Stuart revealed her own compelling personality.

Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 0553815210, Paperback)

An extraordinary life lost in history: the compelling biography of Arbella Stuart spans both Tudor and Stuart courts and encompasses espionage, a clandestine marriage, imprisonment and eventual death in the Tower of London.

Arbella Stuart was the niece of Mary Queen of Scots and first cousin to James VI of Scotland. Acknowledged as her heir by Elizabeth 1, Arbella’s right to the English throne was equaled only by James. Raised under close supervision by her grandmother, but still surrounded by plots -- most of them Roman Catholic in origin -- she became an important pawn in the struggle for succession, particularly during the long, tense period when Elizabeth lay dying. The accession of her cousin James thrust her into the colourful world of his extravagant and licentious court, and briefly gave her the independence she craved at the heart of Jacobean society. At thirty-five, however, Arbella’s fate was sealed when she risked everything to make a forbidden marriage, for which she was forced to flee England. She was intercepted off the coast of Calais and escorted to the Tower where she died some years later, alone and, most probably, from starvation.

This is a powerful and vivid portrait of a woman forced to carve a precarious path through turbulent years. But more remarkably, the turmoil of Arbella’s life never prevented her from claiming the right to love freely, to speak her wrongs loudly, and to control her own destiny. For fans of historical biography, Arbella is possibly the most romantic heroine of them all. Hers was a story just waiting to be told.