Lady Crook-Back

The Sisters Who Would Be Queen by Leanda de Lisle (HarperPress, £20).

In the 16th century, the heir to Elizabeth I’s throne was briefly Lady Mary Grey, a spirited and intelligent woman who reputedly had dwarfism.

Described unkindly by contemporaries as “the smallest person at court” and “crook-backed”, she was a sister of Lady Jane Grey, beheaded on the orders of Queen Mary, and of Katherine Grey, who died young from self-starvation.

As, technically, the only surviving heir to Elizabeth I (though many saw Mary Queen of Scots’ claims to be stronger), England was tantalisingly close to having its first disabled queen.

Unfortunately, Mary’s life proved to be unsuccessful. Against Queen Elizabeth’s wishes, she married Thomas Keyes, a widower twice her age, and was then ridiculed because of the disparity in their heights.

Leanda de Lisle’s well-researched book tells how after Keyes’ death, Mary lived a comfortable life in relative obscurity but died at 33, during an outbreak of plague, putting paid to the chance that she might put disability centre stage in English politics.

Penny Batchelor