Book excerpt: A study of the lives of the Stuart royal family. Written in an accessible style, the narrative moves chronologically from James's birth in 1566 to his death in 1625. It is aimed at the general reader as well as historians and describes a family divided by jealousy, neglect and the violence of war. A cousin, denied marriage to the man she loves, dies locked in a tower; a young prince, heir-expectant, dies suddenly; a princess marries a German prince and then finds herself the prisoner of European wars; a king-father, noted for his peacemaking, ensnares his country in a war as his life ends; a queen-mother, determined to nurture her young children, finds herself estranged from them.