It is 1936, and four-year-old Antonia is given Our Island Story. Already a keen reader, who knew what it would portend for her future? Show more

An unrequited schoolgirl crush and the world of Georgette Heyer inspire the teenage Antonia Pakenham to romantic flights, and a school prize. Show more

Married and in need of money, Antonia Fraser turns from frivolous journalism to writing of a more serious kind and, with Mary Queen of Scots, her career as a historian begins. Show more

Now a convert to Catholicism, Antonia is pressured to become a nun, but she wants to be a journalist in the tabloid press and become a deb. Show more

Antonia has met her first love, a young man called Patrick, and her life-long obsession, history, a passion she pursues from university to a job in publishing. Show more