Mary M. Luke (1919–1993)

This history provides one of the most detailed narratives of the reign of Elizabeth I, making for a long book (my copy was just under 700 pages) and one that felt slow moving at times. Nevertheless, the drama always managed to pick up at the right moment and I appreciated the author's efforts to provide detailed portrayals of not just Elizabeth, but also her family, her courtiers, her advisers, and her rivals. Still, this book does show its age at times, as some of the details about Mary, show more Queen of Scots, and the characterization of Bess of Hardwick would likely be contested by more recent historians. However, the detailed narrative this book provides is still makes for fascinating reading and one any 16th history fan would enjoy. show less

REread 2021 Just as good as I remembered. Lovely history woven through the story. You could really visualize the places mentioned. I stopped to look stuff up several times which is always a bonus for me. I like historical stuff where the history is right but the characters are made up. Not kings and queens for example. I don't mind if they are peripheral characters. I don't want made up stories about people I could read a biography about.


This is not really time travel but it comes close. It show more deals with souls meeting and loving through time. One of those books I read when it first came out and have read several times since. It sticks in your mind. Very well done from the historical aspect also. A very touching and poignant love story. show less

Enjoyed it - I love the older biographies where people gave details you would normally expect from fiction. Mind you, this book was a lot more about Mary than it was about Elizabeth….and while that context is critical to understanding the story (well, perhaps not the full description of Mary’s time in Wales!), I was looking primarily for details about Elizabeth.

I very much liked this book, but it was maybe a bit of a slow burner. While smooth, and extreemly readable, the text was a bit heavy and perhaps a bit over explainitory.

I loved the past lives and lovers finding each other again and again. I just hope that history will stop repeating itself!