ELIZABETH: APPRENTICE by David Starkey and published by Chatto & Windus in 2000. Signed by Starkey on the title page.

An abused child, yet confident of her destiny to reign, a woman in a man’s world, passionately sexual yet – she said – a virgin, Elizabeth I was to be famed as England’s most successful ruler. This absorbing new book, by concentrating on the early years from her birth in 1533 to her accession in 1558, shows how her experiences of danger and adventure formed her remarkable character and shaped her opinions and beliefs.

339 pages including Notes on Sources and Index