'A good story, embracing character, emotion and drama... refreshing.' THE TIMES 'A splendidly sympathetic and sparky portrait... Wittily written and rich in detail' Miranda Seymour Catherine of Braganza - Boring? Plain? Ineffectual? Think again. Charles II's wife was a trouser-wearing tastemaker who introduced tea drinking, popularised card games and championed baroque fashion and art. Her salon culture was infamous for its parties, theatricals and frequent trips to the pub. A Catholic queen in a strictly Anglican country, she was the diplomatic bridge between an unstable Britain and the European mainland, and carefully navigated the treacherous political landscape of Restoration England. In this illuminating portrait historian Sophie Shorland brings Catherine vividly to life for the first time, revealing a woman who defied the limitations imposed upon her to have a profound impact on the world around her. Previously published as The Lost Queen.

Sophie Shorland has a PhD in Early Modern English literature and is a former Research Fellow at the University of Warwick. She was a semi-finalist in the BBC's New Generation Thinkers competition and the proposal for her first book was shortlisted for the Tony Lothian Prize.