Popular historian Derek Wilson was the highly acclaimed author of over 50 books and wrote and presented numerous television and radio programmes.

“Derek Wilson has written a fine history of two little-known and controversial women as thinkers. Though one is a queen of Henry VIII and the other is a martyr, they appear on the pages as lively, complex, realistic women – far from the stereotypes of traditional history. Wilson has traced their connections and carefully judged their intimacy. His understanding of the cliques which attached themselves to Henry VIII and his last wife is detailed and careful – authentic history – while never losing sight of the nightmarish atmosphere of a court governed by a bad-tempered tyrant.”