I received this biography of Sir Walter Raleigh free from NetGalley, in exchange for a honest review.

I don’t read much non-fiction and especially not biographies, generally preferring historical fiction, which tends to focus on the interesting parts of a character’s life, and shapes them into a story with some kind of happy ending.

I came across this book in NG’s Read Now section, and decided I wanted to know more about this very famous adventurer, about whom I knew very little - mostly impressions left from an episode of Blackadder 2 in my teens!
The book was written in the sixties, but has been republished recently.

It is a reasonably long (372 dense pages on my ereader) account of the life of Raleigh, a minor noble who came to fame in the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, rapidly becoming one of her favourites and thereby gaining wealth, land and titles, but then subject to her whims and jealousy. Having made his mark exploring the New World, in particular establishing the colony of Virginia and introducing tobacco to England, and then defending her against the Spanish Armada, all he wanted was to keep sailing, but she wouldn’t let him go, afraid of losing him.

When he finally marries, she is furious, throwing him and his wife in the Tower, and while he is eventually released, she never really forgives him, and other younger men supplant him in her entourage. Hugely popular with his men and the common people, he arouses the enmity of other courtiers, and when she dies, and the monstrous James VI/I takes the throne, Raleigh is an inevitable victim of their jealous manipulations, and ends up back in the Tower on trumped up charges of treason, for 13 years. (It’s great not having to worry about spoilers, when it’s a well known true story.)

The book does give a comprehensive account of Raleigh’s life, and the other major personalities of the time. The author has a very flowery writing style that I found hard to follow at times, especially as she is constantly veering off on gossipy tangents about other characters relationships and scandals. As with other historical books, it took me ages to read because I was constantly stopping to look people and events up on Wikipedia. This is good for my general knowledge, not so good for my book tally.

I would’ve liked to read more about his travels and adventures at sea, but this is where non-fiction is limited - the author can’t describe what she doesn’t know, although as a prolific writer and poet, I would’ve thought he might have left personal accounts. The author is defensive of his actions, acknowledging the many mistakes he made, explaining them as consequences of his personality. He was a smart man who was too trusting in his “friends”, driven by honour but also hubris, and he paid the ultimate price.

Overall I did enjoy this, but will not be in a hurry to read any more biographies, particularly not when written decades ago. I do feel I have learned a lot about the Elizabethan period, which is the part or the Tudor era I knew least about.

Sehr gelungenes Porträt eines großen Mannes seiner Zeit. Man merkt, dass die Autorin mit der Thematik vertraut ist. Sehr informativ und interessant.

I wasn't able to complete reading. I don't wish to read this book because I thought it was something else.

I was very disappointed ninths reprint of an early 60's biography. I felt that it was assuming the reader was very familiar with Elizabethan history. This gave the book a very scattered feel, instead off concentrating on its subject..

New biography of Ralegh, with interesting analysis of his network of seafaring relatives in the generation before his vault to court, and his extensive cultivation of his Irish estates. The book is extremely impressionistic, and in popular style with notes at the back, so not recommended for someone who knows nothing about Elizabethan England, but entertaining with flashes of new insights for people who are already familiar with the family trees.

Big book, big characters, big events. A lovely history of a notorious character, one with both incredible strengths and some weaknesses that eventually costs him his life.
There is little I can add to the story, this is a really entertaining new biography; with new facts and perceptions.
Take your time.