Mary Boleyn is remembered by posterity as a great & infamous whore. She was the mistress of two kings Francois I of France & Henry VIII of England & sister to Anne Boleyn Henry VIIIs second wife. She may secretly have borne Henry a child & it was because of his adultery with Mary that his marriage to Anne was annulled. It is not hard to see how this tangled web of relationships has given rise to rumours & misconceptions that have been embroidered over the centuries. In this the first full-scale biography of Mary Boleyn Alison Weir explodes much of the mythology that surrounds her subject & uncovers the facts about one of the most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age. Her extensive forensic research has facilitated a new & detailed portrayal in which she recounts that contrary to popular belief Mary was entirely undeserving of her posthumous notoriety as a great whore or the hackney whom the King of France famously boasted of riding. Weir also presents compelling new evidence that almost conclusively determines the paternity of Marys two oldest children. In this astonishing & riveting book Alison Weir shows that Marys story had a happy ending & that she was by far the luckiest of the Boleyns. ...

Sister to Anne Boleyn & seduced by two kings Mary Boleyn has long been the subject of scandal & myth. Her affair with Henry VIII fuelled the shocking annulment of his marriage to Anne & Mary is rumoured to have borne his child in secret. In this the first full-length biography of Mary Boleyn Alison Weir explodes much of the mythology that surrounds her subject's notoriety. Her extensive research gives us a new & detailed portrayal revealing Mary as one of hte most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age. From the internationally bestselling author of Eleanor of Aquitaine. ...

This study redefines the American artist Mary Cassatts status in the Parisian avant-garde & in American art placing her work in the wider context of 19th-century feminism & art theory. Cassatts art explores a new womans" perspective on the spaces of modernity: at the theatre in the drawing-room & garden in the studio. Admired by Degas
- who invited her to show with the Impressionists in 1877
- Cassatts work reveals her profound study of old masters & keen responses to contemporary French & Spanish painters. Pollock emphasizes Cassatts interest in Manet & her influence on American collections of French modernism. She also argues that Cassatts experimentation with etching & pastel from the late 1880s enabled her to represent children & women without sentiment but with a deepening awareness of a complex psychological charge."

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Jose Manser tells the story of two remarkable & gifted artists with radically different backgrounds visions & approaches. How they met fell in love married & lived together; supported each other for nearly forty years at Durham Wharf in Chiswick on the River Thames; gathered friends about them; & travelled widely throughout the world seeking inspiration for their painting & printmaking. ...

The lifestory of Mary I
- daughter of Henry VIII & his Spanish wife Catherine of Aragon
- is often distilled to a few dramatic

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As mother of Mary Queen of Scots Mary of Guise is often overshadowed by her more famous daughter. However this intelligent & energetic woman also led an intriguing life of her own. Daughter of a powerful French family a staunch Roman Catholic & subtle politician she acted as Regent for her young daughter & was keen to ensure that Scottish loyalties lay with France rather than Protestant Engl&. This is the story of a strong-willed woman who lived through turbulent times. ...

The original best-loved classic about the world's most famous nanny
- Mary Poppins. When Jane & Michael Banks draw up an advertisement
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Not many names epitomise an era but Mary Quant is such a name. Her life her ideas her style touched (and still touch) everyone. Mary Quant is fashion. Most people connect Mary with one thing
- the mini skirt
- that ground-breaking design that is as potent now as it was when it first appeared in the early sixties. But her influence carried way beyond those early frenetic black-&-white years. Now towards the close of what has been one of the most influential & visionary careers in fashion's history Mary Quant has written a memoir in her own inimitable style
- a witty unique account of her whirlwind life. It is a story like no other. But then there is only one Mary Quant.


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Mary Queen of Scots passed her childhood in France & married the Dauphin to become Queen of France at the age of sixteen. Widowed less than two years later she returned to Scotland as Queen after an absence of thirteen years. Her life then entered its best known phase: the early struggles with John Knox & the unruly Scottish nobility; the fatal marriage to Darnley & his mysterious death; her marriage to Bothwell the chief suspect that led directly to her long English captivity at the hands of Queen Elizabeth; the poignant & extraordinary story of her long imprisonment that ended with the labyrinthine Babington plot to free her & her execution at the age of forty-four. ...

On the night of 10 February 1567 an explosion devastated the Edinburgh residence of Henry Stewart Lord Darnley second husband of Mary Queen of Scots. The noise was heard as far away as Holyrood Palace where Queen Mary was attending a wedding masque. Those arriving at the scene of devastation found in the garden the naked corpses of Darnley & his valet. Neither had died in the explosion but both bodies bore marks of strangulation. It was clear that they had been murdered & the house destroyed in an attempt to obliterate the evidence. Darnley was not a popular king-consort but he was regarded by many as having a valid claim to the English throne. For this reason Elizabeth I had opposed his family's longstanding wish to marry him to Mary Stuart who herself claimed to be the rightful queen of Engl&. Alison Weir's investigation of Darnley's murder is set against one of the most dramatic periods in British history. Her conclusions will shed a brilliant new light on the actions & motives of the conspirators & in particular the extent of Mary's own involvement. ...