The Virgin's Lover: Philippa Gregory

In the autumn of 1558, church bells across England ring out the news - Elizabeth is Queen. One woman hears them with dread - Amy Dudley, wife of Sir Robert, knows that with Elizabeth on the throne he will return to the glamorous Tudor court. Amy's hopes that the ambitions of the Dudley family had died when Robert's father was beheaded are ended. Her husband is summoned to power and to the side of a passionate young queen. Elizabeth has inherited a bankrupt and rebellious country. Her advisor William Cecil warns she will only survive if she marries a strong prince, but the only man Elizabeth desires is her childhood friend Robert. He is sure he can reclaim his destiny at Elizabeth's side and he begins to contemplate the impossible -the setting aside of his loving wife to marry the young Elizabeth.