Sarah Gristwood
Author of Arbella: England's Lost Queen
About the Author
Biographer and journalist Sarah Gristwood attended Oxford University and is the author of seven books, including the best-selling Arbella and Elizabeth and Leicester. She lives in London and Kent.
Works by Sarah Gristwood
The Tudors in Love: Passion and Politics in the Age of England's Most Famous Dynasty (2022) 50 copies
God's Jury 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Gristwood, Sarah
- Birthdate
- 1960
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Kent, England, UK
- Places of residence
- London, England, UK
Kent, England, UK - Education
- Oxford University (St. Anne's College)
- Occupations
- journalist
biographer
Historian - Relationships
- Malcolm, Derek (husband|1994|his death|2023)
- Awards and honors
- Fellow, Royal Historical Society
Fellow, Royal Society of Arts - Agent
- Araminta Whitley (Lucas Alexander Whitley)
- Short biography
- After leaving Oxford, Sarah Gristwood began work as a journalist, writing at first about the theatre as well as general features on everything from gun control to Giorgio Armani. But increasingly she found herself specializing in film interviews. Her work has appeared in most of the UK's leading newspapers and magazines.
Turning to history, she wrote two bestselling Tudor biographies, Arbella: England’s Lost Queen and Elizabeth and Leicester; and the 18th-century story Perdita: Royal Mistress, Writer, Romantic, which was selected as Radio 4 Book of the Week. Presenting and contributing to several radio and tv documentaries, she also published a book on iconic dresses, Fabulous Frocks (with Jane Eastoe); and a 50th anniversary companion to the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s, as well as collaborating with Tracy Borman, Alison Weir and Kate Williams on The Ring and the Crown, a book on the history of royal weddings. 2011 also saw the publication of her first historical novel, The Girl in the Mirror. In September 2012 she brought out a new nonfiction book -- Blood Sisters: The Women behind the Wars of the Roses.
She and her husband, film critic Derek Malcolm, live in London and Kent.
Members
Reviews
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 18
- Members
- 1,602
- Popularity
- #16,094
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 39
- ISBNs
- 70
- Languages
- 3
- Favorited
- 1
After the accession of her cousin James VI of Scotland to the English throne as James I, things improved for Arbella who became a lady-in-weighting to his wife Ann of Denmark. But life in the court had many perils and was also horrendously expensive, a point the author makes well. As time went on, Arbella, ageing especially in 17th century terms, sought to marry but as a near relative to the royal family was thwarted by political concerns, and this eventually lead to tragedy. The book concludes with an epilogue which follows the fortunes of the other actors in the drama, and also more tenuously traces her influence - the character in The Duchess of Malfi may be based upon her and one of the ships taking the colonists to North America was named the Arbella.
The problem I found was that I found the book quite boring in places and a chore to finish. I was interested though that, contrary to a lot of penmanship of the time and preceding, which was done in a very ornate and, for modern readers, difficult to read style, Arbella's was easy by comparison - I could make out nearly every word in a reproduced example. The author comments on this but does not attempt to explain it. So all in all, I would rate this an OK 2 stars only.… (more)