Phoenix, 2005. Spine creased and faded, pages beginning to yellow at edges.

Orphaned in infancy, imprisoned in childhood, heiress to an ancient name and vast fortune, Catherine de Medici grew up to become one of the most important figures in European history. Three of her sons became kings of France, including one who married Mary, Queen of Scots. It is a story of incest, vicious religious wars, assassination, poison, the occult and, in Catherine's own words, `passion, hatred and vengeance...'