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  • The Waiting Game

  • The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens
  • By: Nicola Clark
  • Narrated by: Karen Cass, Nicola Clark
  • Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (13 ratings)

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The Waiting Game

By: Nicola Clark
Narrated by: Karen Cass, Nicola Clark
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Summary

'Written in a lively, accessible style, The Waiting Game is full of insight' Suzannah Lipscomb, Literary Review

Every Tudor Queen had ladies-in-waiting. They were her confidantes and her chaperones. Only the Queen's ladies had the right to enter her most private chambers, spending hours helping her to get dressed and undressed, caring for her clothes and jewels, listening to her secrets. But they also held a unique power. A quiet word behind the scenes, an appropriately timed gift, a well-negotiated marriage alliance were all forms of political agency wielded expertly by women.

The Waiting Game explores the daily lives of ladies-in-waiting, revealing the secrets of recruitment, costume, what they ate, where (and with whom) they slept. We meet María de Salinas, who travelled to England with Catherine of Aragon when just a teenager and spied for her during the divorce from Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn's lady-in-waiting Jane Parker was instrumental in the execution of not one, but two queens. And maid-of-honour Anne Basset kept her place through the last four consorts, negotiating the conflicting loyalties of her birth family, her mistress the Queen, and even the desires of the King himself. As Henry changed wives, and changed the very fabric of the country's structure besides, these women had to make choices about loyalty that simply didn't exist before. The Waiting Game is the first time their vital story has been told.
©2023 Nicola Clark (P)2023 Orion Publishing Group Limited
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An enthralling new perspective on Tudor history

I enjoyed every minute of this excellent book. While being full of careful research it was also an intriguing and fascinating story. I found the narration was a great - a real bonus that added to my involvement and I loved the wry asides.

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Marvelous history of The Tudors!

An excelent book on Tudor history. Fascinating to see a diffrent side to the Tudor Household. I wish there were more books like this where we get to see history from the Ladies In Waitings Point Of View 10/10

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Refreshing and interesting

This is a really interesting book about the women in Waiting to the Queens of Henry VIII. I have read A LOT about this period and I found that I was learning so many new and interesting things about women whose names I knew, but their life was not known to me.
As put (brilliantly) by the author: 'women's history does not have to be exceptional to be relevant'. This book absolutely supports this wonderful and true statement.

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A fascinating look into the lives of noblewomen

I was deeply captivated by the different ways these women’s stories led them, and how they interacted with the world around them

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Great books

Really well researched, there was basic information that I knew already and this really helped add to my knowledge.
Narration was great

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Clarity can

This book was made all the more enjoyable by the excellent narration and clarity of all the facts dates and correct titles of all the ladies of the court

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A very interesting read

If you love Tudor history, this book is a must read. It's insite using real letters gives a different perspective

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