Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves created and hosted by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out Lisa’s introductory post, here.

The Lives of Tudor Women
by Elizabeth Norton

What was it really like to be a woman in England’s turbulent Tudor age?

Elizabeth Norton explores the seven ages of the Tudor woman, from childhood to old age, through the contrasting examples of women such as Elizabeth Tudor, Henry VIII’s sister who died in infancy; Cecily Burbage, Elizabeth’s wet nurse; Rose Hickman, merchant’s wife and religious activist; Elizabeth Boleyn, mother of a controversial queen; and Elizabeth Barton, a peasant girl who would be lauded as a prophetess.

Their stories are interwoven with special features exploring subjects as diverse as contraception, all-female gangs, witchcraft, and the toys available to the Tudor baby, painting a portrait of the lives of queens and serving maids, widows and chaperones, nuns and harlots.

It’s the last Wednesday of Women’s History Month – boo!

I received this as a present from my parents a few Christmases ago and still haven’t read it and I couldn’t even tell you why. As much as I love the Tudor era, I don’t reach for Tudor non-fiction all that much because I have a bit of an obsessive personality, and as much as I want to read all the Tudor things I also want to read the many novels waiting for me on my shelves, too. I really should get to this one soon, though, as it’ll be great research for my own writing projects!

Are there any books on the Tudor era you’d recommend?