Gripping read from the start. Real page turner! Highly recommended

The beautiful cover of this book caught my eye first, and when I found out it was about Arbella Stuart I could not resist downloading it. I adore reading historical novels and I knew a bit about Arbella from watching a documentary about her a few years back.

Arbella was a fascinating person, the great-granddaughter of Margaret Tudor (who was sister to King Henry VIII), and so therefore a possible heir to Queen Elizabeth I. As such, Arbella was used as a pawn by those who wanted power, including her own family, when she just wanted to read, write, and ride her horse.

The story is told from two points of view: Arbella's, as she looks back on her life, and a woman called Ami, who was friends with her at Court. It dawned on me about halfway through the book that Ami might also be a real life historical figure, and after a bit of Googling I discovered she was Aemilia Lanyer, a well-known poet.

Although Ami's life was interesting, I would have rather read more about Arbella! I loved the descriptions of Arbella's childhood and her relationship with her formidable grandmother, Bess of Hardwick, and how she grew up at Hardwick Hall, which was famous for being 'more glass than wall'. I felt so sorry for Arbella as she longed for a normal life as a wife and mother, away from all the political intrigue.

I could have done with a family tree at the front of the book, or perhaps a list of characters. Although I thought I knew a fair bit about history, I did become confused as to who was who. Characters were introduced as though I should know who they were and I spent a lot of time on Google, resulting in a few spoilers!

But the story was very well written and I did enjoy reading it. It would probably appeal to fans of Philippa Gregory and anyone who enjoys Tudor/Stuart history mixed in with a bit of fiction.

Thank you to Elizabeth Fremantle, Michael Joseph and Netgalley for my copy of this book, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

Arbella Stuart has the great misfortune to be of Royal blood and to be related to one of the most powerful women in Tudor England, Elizabeth Shrewsbury, mistress of Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire. Arbilla was also the niece of the Catholic queen , Mary Stuart, also known as Mary, Queen of Scots and from an early age, these two formidable ladies groomed Arbella to become the successor to Queen Elizabeth.
During this age, titled young girls were taught skills designed to make them attractive for the marriage market, keeping house and how to control servants, play instruments, do embroidery and read. Girls were tolerated for their ability to promote a family closer to titles, land and riches and sometimes nearer to the throne. Due to Arbella being of Royal blood, she was seen as a constant threat to the English throne and was kept under house arrest for most of her life. To spend years in semi captivity awaiting a decision on marriage or whether you will inherit the throne was soul destroying for this young lady, she was constantly denied any chance of happiness and died alone and frustrated. It was a cruel and lonely fate for such a spirited girl who only wanted a chance to experience life and the chance of love.
I have visited Chatsworth house and Hardwick Hall many times and heard this story of Arbella Stuart during a guided tour. To suffer so due to an accident of birth was beyond belief. I read the book by Sarah Gristwood, Arbella, England's Lost Queen and enjoyed it and wanted to read another authors interpretation of this . I found it to be very descriptive and informative and reinforced all I had read before. If you enjoy strong women in Tudor England, this one is for you. I have posted this review on Goodreads today.

I was excited to read this book but I found myself really struggling to get into it. While I think it's a good story I found the switching past to present time a little confusing at times which I don't usually. I would still suggest as a good novel to read but not as readily as similar books and authors in the genre.

"Arbella Stuart, niece to Mary, Queen of Scots and presumed successor to Elizabeth I, has spent her youth behind the towering windows of Hardwick Hall. As presumed successor to the throne, her isolation should mean protection - but those close to the crown are never safe. "
I received an ARC from Netgalley and Penguin UK for this book for an unbiased review and I would give it above 3 stars so 3.5. I thought that the juxtaposition of Ami the poet's story with Arbella Stuarts's was hard to do well and might have been better with only a few vignettes of Ami. Did it detract from Arbella's character, perhaps?

I have not read a book about Arbella and although she was not a vibrant subject, I appreciated the very fine historical details. Elizabeth Freemantle had a wonderful afterward that really did the trick. Perhaps less of being a "novel" and more of the historical details would have worked for me.

Having said that, I do recommend it to Elizabethan Era lovers and Bess of Hardwick followers. I think the King James era was done quite well. Very poignant.

Elizabeth Fremantle creates a riveting read out of playing a waiting game.

I love this author's work. Having heard Elizabeth Fremantle at the Guildford Book Festival, I know how much effort she puts into her research, but her books wear her scholarship lightly. She never tells us a fact just because she knows it: everything is germane to the story and the atmosphere.

Thinking about it, this could have been a boring narrative: a great-great-granddaughter of King Henry VII and a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I, Arbella waits years and years (and then waits some more) to find out what the powers that be intend for her. Then, in this telling of her story anyway, she seizes the day.

I enjoyed learning more about her grandmother, too - the redoubtable Bess of Hardwick. Together with the poet Aemilia Lanyer, they are all trying to make their way in a man's world, with varying degrees of success.

An interesting and insight read,, more than worthy of Philippa Gregory

The girl in the glass tower by Elizabeth Freemantle.
Tap. Tap. Tap on the window. Something, someone wanting to be heard. Waiting to be free. Tudor England. The word treason is on everyone's lips. Arbella Stuart, niece to Mary, Queen of Scots and presumed successor to Elizabeth I, has spent her youth behind the towering windows of Hardwick Hall. As presumed successor to the throne, her isolation should mean protection - but those close to the crown are never safe. Aemilia Lanyer - writer and poet - enjoys an independence denied to Arbella. Their paths should never cross. But when Arbella enlists Aemilia's help in a bid for freedom, she risks more than her own future. Ensnared in another woman's desperate schemes, Aemilia must tread carefully or share her terrible fate . . .
A very good read. Little slow to start with. I liked the story and the characters. 4*. Netgalley and penguin books-Michael Joseph.

I enjoyed this historical novel about Arbella Stuart, however I did find it rather drawn out. This is the story of Stuart who as a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I, found her life deviated from its path and in frequent danger.

Fremantle gives us rich historical context with well-written prose, and it is this ability to weave a fictional perspective on the life of Arbella Stuart that gives the story its depth and colour.

Really enjoyed this book. I regularly visit Chatsworth and Hardwick Hall and love this period of history. Anyone who loves it too should read this. Well researched, characters come alive and fit well with the documented real life of Arbella Stewart.. Women were pawns and their lives often challenging. I knew her story but still loved the book. A must read for history fans.

Not really a fan of historical fiction but gave this a try and gotta say it's a beautifully written story about the next supposed heir to Elizabeth the first, lady arabella Stuart. Practically under house arrest with many people plotting against her. Well worth a read with fabulous characterisation and great insite into the Tudor dynasty.

Very good. Enjoyed it from start to finish. Story flowed, characters were well rounded. Makes me want to found out more.

Hard going and difficult to engage with the characters, quite a lot of blurring of fact and fiction.

It seemed like a never-ending book sadly.

The Girl in the Glass Tower is a literary thriller based on true historical characters, a time when women were invisible and slaves to male ambition. Lady Arbella Stuart, cousin to Queen Elizabeth and niece of Mary Queen of Scots is brought up in isolation in rural Derbyshire at Hardwick Hall, the glass tower of the title. A possible claimant to the Elizabethan throne, she is a pawn of others political intrigues but falls in love with Will Seymour, great nephew to Lady Jane Grey and they marry in secret. Arbella becomes friends with the poet Aemilia Lanyer who assists her bid for freedom. The novel is beautifully researched and a compelling read.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This turned out to be a huge book although I hardly noticed it at the time because I was so absorbed in the tale of this little known royal. Lady Arbella Stuart very nearly succeeded Elizabeth I in 1603. She was raised at Hardwicke house - an Eluzabethan building known for the vast amounts of then expensive glass it boasted in it's windows. This all sets the scene nicely for a claustrophobic and melancholy tale with a real 'princess' imprisoned in a way wven more poignant because she can see in glaring detail everything she is not permitted. As metaphors go it fits neatly. Intersecting with the main thrust of the story is that of Abi, the poetess sent in disgrace from James' court. This is a beautiful, richly layered and engaging historical novel that has managed to touch on an aspect of the Tudor-Stuart reign that few today are aware of. A beautiful book.

An introduction to the characters or perhaps a list of the characters, giving their history,at the beginning of the book would have been extremely helpful as I had no idea who I was reading about. However, I did google the characters and found that helped me enormously. I found the pace good until around the last half of the book and then I found I was skipping pages. It gathered momentum again towards the end. I loved the characterisation and felt Arbella was portrayed sympathetically as was Ami - I felt the two stories complemented each other and worked well. I also felt the ending was conclusive and as it should be. On the whole I enjoyed the book immensely but felt it was overlong and that perhaps some of Arbella's time at Hardwick could be condensed. A good read.

I can't really do a full review because I did not finish reading the book but this wasn't really my cup of tea, I put it down because I couldn't get into it

Having read about this novel just before Christmas, I've seen it mentioned in several other places since, always with the greatest admiration. I was attracted by the idea of a book set at the turn of the 17th century which focused in on more unusual characters and also promised to teach me more about the history of the period. Both Aemilia and Arbella were real women, although neither was familiar to me. I'm always keen to learn more about women who transcended or challenged the expectations of their time, and both of our protagonists fit that definition. Written with care and sensitivity, Fremantle's book brings them both back to vivid life.

The years have not been kind to Aemilia Lanyer. Back in the fading days of Elizabeth I's reign, she and her poetry were celebrated at Court; but when James I came to the throne, with his dislike of educated women, Aemilia was dispatched to a meaner existence. Now, weighed down with the debts of her dead husband, she ekes out her days in Clerkenwell with her teenage son Hal. It is Hal who offers Aemilia some unexpected distraction from her financial woes. As a young musician at Court, he happens to see the rooms of the late Arbella Stuart being cleared. Remembering that his mother once knew this unfortunate princess, he brings home a bundle of old papers destined for the fire, little realising what a treasure he has found. For this is Arbella's account of her own life: the tale of a woman who dared to dream beyond the confines in which circumstances kept her. Faced with the words of this almost-friend, a woman she never truly understood, and one whom she inadvertently betrayed, Aemilia longs to finally learn the truth about Arbella Stuart.

Fremantle's story raises sobering points about female agency and independence - or the limits thereof - in Elizabethan and Jacobean England. She is excellent at conveying Arbella's frustration at being kept as a child long beyond her time, and the ways that she misguidedly tries to take control of her situation. I'm not able to judge how historically accurate the book is, not knowing anything about either woman beyond what I read it, but I enjoyed Fremantle's historical note at the back of the book and it looks as though she's really done her research and tried to show both woman honestly. Through their eyes, we see England at a liminal period, between the waning grandeur of the Tudor age and the clumsier, ultimately tragic Stuart monarchy. Of course, our view is narrow because the two women work in very circumscribed worlds - we don't see much of the world beyond the home and the court, but that in itself says much about how women were restricted - even brilliant women like these two. Poignant and thought-provoking, it's an engaging read.

The full review will be published on Wednesday 1 March at the link below:
https://theidlewoman.net/2017/03/01/the-girl-in-the-glass-tower-elizabeth-fremantle

I didn't get on well with Fremantle's first book and gave her a second chance with this one but she's clearly not a writer for me: very much in the Gregory/Weir mode of historical fiction, this is a book which views Early Modern women via a presentist lens and reconstructs their stories as chick-lit. Aemilia Lanyer is reconstructed as Ami and is given a best friend role in the life of Arbella Stuart, women who, in the social realities of the 16th/17th centuries might have had a patronage relationship but nothing more.

Clumsy writing ('the sight of him caused a flush to run up my body as if I'd been dipped in a vat of soup') and lots of 'as you know' info-dumps intrude in the story, as well as Arbella having to be told things that she can't not have known given her relationship to the throne: e.g. the moment when Penelope Rich explains that her brother, Robert Devereux, is the Earl of Essex rather than her dead father.

The less you know about this period the more this book might work: good for readers who want their history accessible and simplified.