Sixteenth-century Europe was a hostile world dominated by court politics and patriarchal structures, and yet against all odds, two women rose to power: Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici. Drawing on their private correspondence, Estelle Paranque reveals how their fates and lives remained intertwined of the course of three decades, even as European power struggles repeatedly set them against one another.

"Paranque's vivid character sketches and lucid explanations of the political and religious stakes involved result in a certifiable historical page-turner."—Publishers Weekly