Empress of the Last Days

The Empress of the Last Days is the final volume of the remarkable trilogy that began with Astraea and The Pretender. A group of friends, Corinne, Theodoor and Michael, bring together their talents and knowledge to uncover the hidden story of Pelagius's royal marriage. As a result of their investigations, Michael finds himself journeying to Barbados, to meet the last descendant of the marriage of Pelagius and Elizabeth of Bohemia - a young black scientist who, unknown to herself, has a serious claim to be considered the rightful queen of England.

In this impressively far-reaching novel, Stevenson considers the transformative moments in people's lives and, in doing so, creates a paean to love, trust and history.

Review: Spectacular talent...great intellectual sharpness... [This] is a profoundly satisfying end to a magnificent sequence * Guardian *

Jane Stevenson's touch is so light, her learning so deep and wide, that you enter another country which, while foreign, soon feels as familiar as your own * Daily Telegraph *

The Empress of the Last Days is a detective story and an account of 'a game of snakes and ladders for young academics', but it is also a novel of ideas...it's refreshing to read an accessible fiction that races at serious themes with its horns lowered * Observer *

Stevenson deftly strikes a balance between lush romanticism and cool contemporary realism * Sunday Times *

Stevenson is excellent at historical detail and on relationships in history...she has whetted our appetite for more delicious tastes from the past * Scotsman *