De Lisle shows us what was going on behind the scenes: the uncertainty which had permeated all levels of society about the succession for over forty years the nervous anticipation in an England that had endured nearly ten years of plague, famine and war and was hoping for change the secret hopes of Catholics that they would be allowed to emerge from the shadows and worship in freedom after forty-five years of oppression the vision of the Puritans who hoped for a cleansing of the Church. Because, ultimately, James took control without major incident, we tend to assume that it was all plain sailing. In After Elizabeth she examines the period of transition around the turn of the century seventeenth century when James VI of Scotland became James I of England. Ms de Lisle’s skill lies in unearthing fascinating detail about little known topics, and this is as apparent in this, her earliest published work, as in her later work on the Grey sisters ( Sisters of Treason) and the Tudor family ( Tudor: The Family Story).
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