As the Tudor dynasty rose and fell, so did the Dudley family. From humble origins, hard work and luck lead to positions of power, influence and wealth. But when you're not the family sitting on the throne, fortunes can turn on a sixpence, and you're one wrong word away from the headsman's axe...

For me, this book is the epitome of narrative history. It reads like a proper history book, and yet it flows like fiction. The author's style is a perfect blend of factual context and descriptive prose; not only do you read this and learn about the Dudley family, but she also takes the time to immerse you into the world and events through flowing descriptions of particular events, conversations and introspection. I've never read any history book quite so good at storytelling.

While the emphasis does fall on the three 'patriarchs' of the family generations; Edmund, John and Robert, it doesn't just focus on them. It is a proper family affair, with the wives, children, siblings and wider relations all being pulled in to illustrate the tangled web of loyalties, rivalries and relationships that is the Tudor Court. The author has taken the time to tease out stories for most members of this vast brood, so you do get a far more rounded picture than you would from many other sources.

The ups and downs of each generation are dealt with in a very objective way, but equally there is a tacit recognition that these were people and that we need to look at them as more that just mere names in a textbooks. The nuances of thought and reasoning behind the actions each member of the family takes is considered, making them all feel like living, breathing souls. While, for example, I cannot imagine Edmund Dudley was a particularly nice man, I've never seen him portrayed as more than just the miserly tax collector, out to fleece the public for as much as he could. This gives him so much more depth! 

Likewise, so much time is usually spent on the age old question, Robert Dudley and Elizabeth I; was there something else going on? While in this book the question is asked, and there is a thread running through that section of the book that does keep you returning to consider the evidence placed before you, it's not intrusive and there's definitely more to Robert Dudley's story than whether he put paid to the 'Virgin' Queen. 

I think my only slight criticism is that the author does skip ahead a few times during the book, using nothing more than paragrap breaks. This is where is reads more like a novel, but I'm less accepting of the time jumps as ot feels like we could be missing out on some interesting tidbits of information.

In some respects, I do worry that this book perhaps isn't detailed enough for a non-fiction tome. It is very much a general overview of the dudley family and their relationships with the Tudors, and while it really does get into their heads and under their skin, precisely because of this style of writing it does feel perhaps a little light on historical detail in places. 

Overall however, I would thoroughly recommend this book. This is so readable even if you know nothing about the Dudley family and is a wonderful example of how engaging history books can and should be.