Book description
Elizabeth I came to the throne at a time of insecurity and unrest.
Rivals threatened her reign; England was a Protestant island, isolated
in a sea of Catholic countries. Spain plotted an invasion, but
Elizabeth's Secretary, Francis Walsingham, was prepared to do whatever
it took to protect her. He ran a network of agents in England and
Europe who provided him with information about invasions or
assassination plots. He recruited likely young men and 'turned'
others. He encourage Elizabeth to make war against the Catholic Irish
rebels, with extreme brutality and oversaw the execution of Mary Queen
of Scots. The Queen's Agent is a story of secret agents, cryptic codes
and ingenious plots, set in a turbulent period of England's history.
It is also the story of a man devoted to his queen, sacrificing his
every waking hour to save the threatened English state.
John Cooper studied and taught History at Oxford before moving
to the University of York. His first book explored the power of
propaganda in Tudor England, and he co-edited the catalogue of the
'Henry VIII: Dressed to Kill' exhibition at the Tower of London. He is
currently working on the sixteenth-century Palace of Westminster. John
enjoys giving public lectures on the Tudors and writing for the Times
Literary Supplement. He lives in North Yorkshire with his wife, the
author Suzanne Fagence Cooper, and their two daughters.
