A BBC History magazine Book of the Year and an amazon.com Best Book of the Month

Two childhood companions, now matriarchs of two opposing powers, calmly set their menfolk aside and declare that they, as women, are better equipped to organise a peace between their warring nations.

An ambitious young woman, debarred by her sex from ascending the throne, nonetheless rules her country and turns her court into an academy where girls are taught how to rule.

A mother tells her daughter to face death rather than give up the sceptre that is her right to wield…

As religion divided sixteenth-century Europe, an extraordinary group of women - queens, consorts and thinkers - rose to power. Despite finding themselves on opposing sides of power struggles both armed and otherwise, through their family ties and patronage they educated and supported each other in a brutal world where the price of failure was disgrace, exile or even death. Theirs was a unique culture of feminine power that saw them run the continent for decades. And yet, as the sixteenth century waned and the Reformation left faultlines across the continent, the Virgin Queen of England was virtually alone as ruler - a queen surrounded by kings once more.

From mother to daughter and mentor to protegee, Sarah Gristwood follows the passage of power from Isabella of Castile and Anne de Beaujeu through Anne Boleyn - the woman who tipped England into religious reform - and on to Elizabeth I and Jeanne d'Albret, heroine of the Protestant Reformation. Unravelling a gripping historical narrative, she reveals the unorthodox practices adopted by these women in the face of challenges that retain an all-too familiar aspect today, and assesses their impact on the era that began the shaping of the modern world. Epic in scale, this game of queens is a remarkable spectacle of skill and ingenuity.