Bestselling historian Alison Weir brings all her knowledge of Elizabeth I to vivid life in a novel of intrigue, sex, plots, mysteries and tragedies, amid all the colour and pageantry of the Tudor court. Their affair is the scandal of Europe. Queen Elizabeth presents herself as the Virgin Queen but cannot resist her dashing but married Master of Horse, Lord Robert Dudley. Many believe them to be lovers, and there are scurrilous rumours that Elizabeth is no virgin at all. The formidable young Queen is regarded by most of Christendom as a bastard, a heretic and a usurper, yet many princes covet Tudor England and seek her hand in marriage. Under mounting pressure to take a husband, Elizabeth encourages their advances without ever committing; a delicate, politically-fraught balancing act which becomes known as `The Marriage Game'. But treading this dangerous line with Robert Dudley, the son and grandson of traitors, could cost her the throne... Played out amidst the splendour of the Tudor court and the most famous events of a great age, THE MARRIAGE GAME is a dramatic, complex and deeply poignant tale of intrigue, love and loss. At its heart is our greatest Queen and the emotional truth of one of history's most extraordinary love affairs.