Their breeding, beauty and cunning made them among the mostinfluential members of 17th-century English society. Lucy Percy was the courtlybeauty—a charming lady whose considerable talents in the ballrooms, bedroomsand anterooms of the court of Charles I were, in the end, not enough to keep herfrom the Tower of London. Lucy’s sister Dorothy, an early relation of PrincessDiana’s family, was the country wife—mother of 12 children, a domineeringand politically savvy woman whose unaspiring husband’s eventual rebellionafter 37 years caused a public scandal. Together, the Countess of Carlisle andthe Countess of Leicester endured romances, court intrigues, family feuds andcivil war, their love for one another at times tested, their lives inextricablyintertwined.

Lita-Rose Betcherman opens a window on a tumultuous period ofBritish history, offering a richly documented, often surprising portrait of twosisters at the heart of political power that will appeal to fans of Jane Dunn,David Starkey and Sandra Gulland.

LITA-ROSE BETCHERMAN received her doctorate in Tudor and Stuart History from the University of Toronto and was the Women’s Bureau Director for the province of Ontario. She has published three books on Canadian history. Lita-Rose Betcherman lives in Toronto.

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"Personalities, fashion, intrigue and even parliamentary and military history blend to provide a multifaceted entry into a period not always accessible to general readers of history." (Publishers Weekly)