The bestselling author and historian Lisa Hilton picks up the mythical 'City of Ladies' where the medieval writer Christine de Pisan left off, continuing a conversation about gender and greatness that began more than six hundred years ago. In 1405 Christine de Pisan took up the pen to defend her maligned sex. Her book, The City of Ladies, was built around preserving women's reputations from the slights and misunderstandings of history. In it the author is visited by three spirits - Justice, Rectitude and Reason - who guide her in sifting through countless lives, in search of worthy citizens. &nbsp; Over 600 years later, the historian and novelist Lisa Hilton picks up the book and promptly falls asleep, only to be visited by three great women from history: Cleopatra, Lucrezia Borgia and Catherine the Great. And they aren't happy. Having found themselves barred from the original 'City of Ladies', they want to know why. And isn't it time, they ask, for a new author to take up the pen? &nbsp; What follows is a reassessment of the past, in which deeds and reputations, rumours and reality are held up to the light, and history is wrested back from the distortions of misogyny.

Sex and the City of Ladies: Rewriting History with Cleopatra, Lucrezia Borgia and Catherine the Great

Biographies & Memoirs

Hilton, Lisa

Community & Culture

TLS Books

Occupying a unique position in the mercurial, often violent world of medieval state-craft, England’s medieval queens were elemental in shaping the history of the monarchy and the nation. Lisa Hilton’s meticulously researched new work explores the lives of the 20 women crowned between 1066 and 1503. She reconsiders the fictions surrounding well-known figures like Eleanor of Aquitaine, illuminates the lives of forgotten queens such as Adeliza of Louvain, and shows why they all had to negotiate a role that combined tremendous influence with terrifying vulnerability. The result is a provocative and dramatic narrative that redefines English history.

Queens Consort: England's Medieval Queens

Weidenfeld Nicolson Ltd

A new biographical portrait that casts the queen as she saw herself--not as an exceptional woman, but as an exceptional rulerQueen Elizabeth I was all too happy to play on courtly conventions of gender when it suited her "weak and feeble woman's body" to do so for political gain. But in Elizabeth, historian Lisa Hilton offers ample evidence of why those famous words should not be taken at face value. With new research out of France, Italy, Russia, and Turkey, Hilton's fresh interpretation is of a queen who saw herself primarily as a Renaissance prince and used Machiavellian statecraft to secure that position.A decade since the last major biography, this Elizabeth breaks new ground and depicts a queen who was much less constrained by her femininity than most treatments claim. For readers of David Starkey and Alison Weir, it will provide a new, complex perspective on Elizabeth's emotional and sexual life. It's a fascinating journey that shows how a marginalized, newly crowned queen, whose European contemporaries considered her to be the illegitimate ruler of a pariah nation, ultimately adapted to become England's first recognizably modern head of state.

Elizabeth: Renaissance Prince

Historical

Weidenfeld&Nicolson

Introduces the world of dinosaurs, discusses the habits and characteristics of different kinds of dinosaurs, and explains how we have learned about them from fossils

Dinosaurs (Look-Look)

Children's Books

Fecher, Sarah

Animals

Golden Books

Introduces the world of snakes, discusses their eating habits, defenses, movement, reproduction, and possible danger to humans, and describes the python, the king cobra, and the rattlesnake

Snakes (Look-Look)

Introduces the world of sharks, discusses their teeth, hunting techniques, reproduction, and danger to humans, and describes the great white, hammerhead, whale shark, and other varieties

Sharks (Look-Look)

A lively biography of AthTnans de Montespan, the powerful mistress of France's King Louis XIV, reveals the woman behind the throne of the Sun KIng, discussing her remarkable influence on the political and cultural events of the era, her sensational rise to power, and the accusations that led to her fall from grace. 30,000 first printing.

Athenais: The Life of Louis XIV's Mistress, the Real Queen of France

Little. Brown and Company

As lovely and charming as she was shrewd and calculating, Athenais de Montespan became the most powerful noblewoman of her day by brilliantly manipulating her forbidden role as mistress of King Louis XIV. With a lively narrative style that reads like fiction, Hilton reveals the woman behind the most dazzling days of the Sun King's reign. photos.

Athénaïs

Back Bay Books

The resplendent sex symbol of the splendid century'... The reign of Athenais de Montespan as principal mistress of Louis XIV corresponds with the most glorious period of the Grand Siecle. Athenais was 'the true Queen of France', symbol of a dazzling French culture in the seventeenth century. As a lover, she risked the disgrace of double adultery to conduct an affair which scandalized Europe; as a patron she supported many of the leaders of the cultural renaissance including Moliere and Racine; as a mother she is the ancestor of most of the royal houses of Europe. The greatest beauty of her day, Athenais lived her life publicly and sensationally until accusations of witchcraft forced her from power in the 'Affair of the Poisons', a mystery which remains unsolved. She fascinates not only because she achieved power at a time when it was denied to most women, but because she achieved that power through her manipulation of a prescribed role.

Athenais: The Real Queen of France

Little,Brown

The reign of Athenais de Montespan as principal mistress of Louis XIV corresponds with the most glorious period of the Grand Siecle. Athenais was "the true Queen of France", symbol of a dazzling French culture in the 17th century. As a lover, she risked the disgrace of double adultery to conduct an affair which scandalized Europe; as a patron she supported many of the leaders of the cultural renaissance including Moliere and Racine; as a mother she is the ancestor of most of the royal houses of Europe. The greatest beauty of her day, Athenais lived her life publicly and sensationally until accusations of witchcraft forced her from power in the "Affair of the Poisons", a mystery which remains unsolved. She fascinates not only because she achieved power at a time when it was denied to most women, but because she achieved that power through her manipulation of a prescribed role. This biography explores her life and influence.

The Real Queen of France Athenais and Louis XIV /anglais

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