Books for gifted children from Royal Fireworks Press, publishers for the gifted education curriculum.

Gloriana!

Novel

Through Elizabeth’s eyes we share in the dilemmas she faced and the personal decisions and choices she made in order to survive and to serve her country to the best of her ability. It is about leadership and determination; about responsibilities and judgment; about overcoming prejudice and how a woman could rule in a man’s world. At its very core, her biography shows the benefits of rigid self-discipline in a world filled with danger.

Elizabeth recalls her father, King Henry VIII; her mother Anne Boleyn who was beheaded for treason; the intrigues at court; the numerous assassination plots against her and, above all, the dramatic attack on her country by the Spanish when—under her leadership—their invading ships had to be faced and routed by the English Navy.

She takes us through the conversations she had, the experiences that taught her whom she could trust; how her heart was her own but for diplomatic reasons she should never marry. Her cousin Mary Stuart posed an ever-present challenge to her throne, and we see how costly it was to her personally to order her execution. At the end of her life she has become an almost iconic figure, alone but revered and loved by her subjects.

Gloriana! is an important addition to any school library and her story provides a fascinating insight into Elizabethan England and into the nature of leadership itself.

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