The Lady Penelope

Pat Edgar, PR Matters

6 August 2007

Talk and book signing by author Sally Varlow
Waterstone’s, Maritime Greenwich Tuesday 21 August, 7.30pm

Waterstone’s in Maritime Greenwich opens its new events programme on Tuesday 21 August with author Sally Varlow presenting her latest book The Lady Penelope: The Lost Tale of Love and Politics in the Court of Queen Elizabeth I. The talk will be followed by a book signing.

The Lady Penelope is a dramatic, visual, emotional and ultimately tragic story set against the character of Queen Elizabeth I and the staged pageantry of her Court. Some of the scenes described in the book actually took place in Greenwich over 400 years ago.

Penelope Devereux came to Court in Greenwich early in 1581 to be a maid to Queen Elizabeth I, who was her godmother. She spent the summer at Greenwich but was forced to marry before the end of the year at aged eighteen. Penelope died on 6 July 1607; the brightest star ever to have shone at the Court of Queen Elizabeth I, she has only been remembered, if at all, as ‘Stella’, the heroine of Sir Philip Sidney’s sonnets. Her dramatic life has been lost until now.

The full tale of her intrigues, politicking on behalf of her brother, the Earl of Essex, and her royal ancestry are revealed in the book. Author Sally Varlow has discovered new evidence that Penelope was a direct descendant of Henry VIII. Penelope’s grandmother was the love-child of the king and Mary Boleyn, subject of The Other Boleyn Girl, recently filmed with Scarlett Johansson and Kristin Scott Thomas (for release 2008).

Sally Varlow is also the author of A Reader’s Guide to Writers’ Britain (André Deutsch) and has written frequently for The Times, Daily Telegraph, The Observer and the Sunday Express. The Lady Penelope is published by André Deutsch and priced at £18.99.

Tickets for the evening, priced at £3 each including refreshments, are available from the front desk at Waterstone’s, Church Street, Maritime Greenwich, alternatively call 0208 853 8530 or email enquires@greenwich.waterstones.com. Doors open at 7.15pm with the talk starting at 7.30pm.

For information about other things to see and do within Maritime Greenwich call the Tourist Information Centre on 0870 608 2000, www.greenwichwhs.org.uk

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For press enquiries, images and a possible facility visit please contact:
Pat Edgar, PR Matters
01494 764932 / 07836 786043
PRMatters@dsl.pipex.com
Brambling House, 7 Finch Lane, Little Chalfont, Bucks HP7 9NE

16 July 2007