A Daughter's Love: Thomas and Margaret More

Description

This book will break open a secret. It is a gripping tale of love, loyalty and domestic happiness that came to be overwhelmed by the forces of ambition, deceit and treachery, from the award-winning author of 'My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary, Queen of Scots'. The life of Sir Thomas More is familiar to many. His opposition to Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn, his arrest for treason in 1534, his virtuoso defence at his trial and his execution in 1535 (and subsequent martyrdom) make up one of the most famous stories in British history. While More's place in history is secure, Margaret, his daughter, has been almost forgotten. She was airbrushed out of the story, even though she played a leading role in this very public drama. During More's imprisonment in the Tower of London, Margaret became his sole intermediary with the outside world. She visited frequently, and the pair wrote long and loving letters to one another. Margaret also smuggled more inflammatory letters in and out of the Tower during these visits, and it is through these that we see a dramatic new portrait of Sir Thomas More emerge. In this enlightening new book, John Guy returns to original sources that have been ignored by generations of historians, and re-writes a story that we think we already know.

John Guy is the author of numerous histories, including Tudor England, which has sold more than a quarter of a million copies, and My Heart is My Own, which won the Whitbread Biography Award. His new book, A Daughter's Love, is about Sir Thomas More and his daughter, Margaret Roper. He is a Fellow at Clare College, Cambridge and also lectures in the Faculty of History. He became an Honorary Research Professor of the University of St Andrews in 2003.

'Brilliantly observed and told ... [Guy's] absorbing, thoroughly researched book does justice to two exemplary women - and reminds us that history is full of ironies' Claire Tomalin, New York Times 'An arresting reassessment...An outstanding talent for stop-the-reader-dead-in-their-tracks gripping storytelling. Guy's convincing page-turner of a double life has restored my faith in biography as a genre' Lisa Jardine, Sunday Times 'Gripping...Guy's scholarship is irreproachable' Independent on Sunday 'John Guy has done more towards the scholarly reappraisal of More's greatness than most other English Historians of the last 50 years' Independent 'Scrupulously researched' Economist 'A stirring story' Daily Mail 'An admirable account...A minor masterpiece' Spectator