Antonia Fraser is an acclaimed historical writer whose works delve into pivotal moments and figures of British history. Her narratives are characterized by meticulous research and vivid storytelling, bringing past eras to life for the reader. Fraser frequently explores the lives of women throughout history, reconstructing their experiences from period documents to create compelling portraits. Her approach blends deep analysis with engaging narrative, making her books essential reading for history and literature enthusiasts alike.
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Woman's Lot in Seventeenth-Century England
What were the women of the Civil War era like? What could they expect beyond marriage and childbirth in an age where infant and maternal mortality was frequent and contraception unknown? Antonia Fraser brings to life the many women she has researched.
Each of Antonia Fraser’s four Jemima Shore mysteries has enlarged the audience for that redoubtable and unpremeditated sleuth. This new one is set against a theatrical background and shows all the narrative skills that have marked the works of its distinguished author along with an ever-increasing quality of suspense. It is the chilling story of Christobel, a beautiful and profligate actress, who thought she could just come back, repent, and resume with impunity the life she had deserted.
The New York Times bestselling history of the legendary six wives of Henry VIII--from the acclaimed author of Marie Antoinette. Under Antonia Fraser's intent scrutiny, Catherine of Aragon emerges as a scholar-queen who steadfastly refused to grant a divorce to her royal husband; Anne Boleyn is absolved of everything but a sharp tongue and an inability to produce a male heir; and Catherine Parr is revealed as a religious reformer with the good sense to tack with the treacherous winds of the Tudor court. And we gain fresh understanding of Jane Seymour's circumspect wisdom, the touching dignity of Anna of Cleves, and the youthful naivete that led to Katherine Howard's fatal indiscretions. The Wives of Henry VIII interweaves passion and power, personality and politics, into a superb work of history.
The scandal of nineteenth-century Britain: the sensational trial of Caroline Norton for adultery with the first Victorian Prime Minister
Mistresses and wives, mothers and daughters - Antonia Fraser brilliantly explores the relationships which existed between The Sun King and the women in his life. This includes not only Louis XIV's mistresses, principally Louise de La Vallière, Athénaïs de Montespan, and the puritanical Madame de Maintenon, but also the wider story of his relationships with women in general, including his mother Anne of Austria, his two sisters-in-law who were Duchesses d'Orléans in succession, Henriette-Anne and Liselotte, his wayward illegitimate daughters, and lastly Adelaide, the beloved child-wife of his grandson.
Illustrated in a sweep of colourful episodes, this volume contains the stories of England's monarchs, spanning ten great dynasties, from the invading Normans of 1066 to the House of Windsor. Antonia Fraser introduces this pageant of royalty, and eight contributors examine the complex characters of both well-loved figures such as Victoria and little-known sovereigns such as Richard III. Accompanying the text are 150 contemporary illustrations and colour drawings of the royal coats of arms, whose origin and significance are explained by J.P. Brooke-Little, the Richmond Herald of Arms.
'Drama, betrayal, religion and sex, it's all here ... Fascinating' GUARDIAN 'Beautifully paced, impeccably written ... Don't miss it' INDEPENDENT 'Fraser is at her best here, lucid, authoritative and compassionate' SUNDAY TIMES 'Superbly researched ... the definitive work on the ill-fated queen' CATHOLIC HERALD Marie Antoinette's dramatic life-story continues to arouse mixed emotions. To many people, she is still 'la reine méchante', whose extravagance and frivolity helped to bring down the French monarchy; her indifference to popular suffering epitomised by the (apocryphal) words: 'let them eat cake'. Others are equally passionate in her defence: to them, she is a victim of misogyny. Antonia Fraser examines her influence over the king, Louis XVI, the accusations and sexual slurs made against her, her patronage of the arts which enhanced French cultural life, her imprisonment, the death threats made against her, rumours of lesbian affairs, her trial (during which her young son was forced to testify to sexual abuse by his mother) and her eventual execution by guillotine in 1793.
'The fullest and most sophisticated account of the most charming and approachable of English kings' OBSERVER
She was the quintessential queen: statuesque, regal, dazzlingly beautiful. Her royal birth gave her claim to the thrones of two nations; her marriage to the young French dauphin promised to place a third glorious crown on her noble head. Instead, Mary Stuart became the victim of her own impulsive heart, scandalizing her world with a foolish passion that would lead to abduction, rape and even murder. Betrayed by those she most trusted, she would be lured into a deadly game of power, only to lose to her envious and unforgiving cousin, Elizabeth I. Here is her story, a queen who lost a throne for love, a monarch pampered and adored even as she was led to her beheading, the unforgettable woman who became a legend for all time.
