Queen Of The Court

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Madeleine Blais, the dramatic and colorful story of legendary tennis star and international celebrity, Alice Marble In August 1939, Alice Marble graced the cover of Life magazine, photographed by the famed Alfred Eisenstaedt. She was a glamorous worldwide celebrity, having that year won singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles tennis titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open, then an unprecedented feat. Yet today one of America’s greatest female athletes and most charismatic characters is largely forgotten. Queen of the Court places her back on center stage. Born in 1913, Marble grew up in San Francisco; her favorite sport, baseball. Given a tennis racket at age 13, she took to the sport immediately, rising to the top with a powerful, aggressive serve-and-volley style unseen in women’s tennis. A champion at the height of her fame in the late 1930s, she also designed a clothing line in the off-season and sang as a performer in the Sert Room of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York to rave reviews. World War II derailed her amateur tennis career, but her life off the court was, if anything, even more eventful. She wrote a series of short books about famous women. She turned professional and joined a pro tour during the War, entertaining and inspiring soldiers and civilians alike. Ever glamorous and connected, she had a part in the 1952 Tracy and Hepburn movie Pat and Mike, and she played tennis with the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich, and her great friends, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. However, perhaps her greatest legacy lies in her successful efforts, working largely alone, to persuade the all-white US Lawn Tennis Association to change its policy and allow African American star Althea Gibson to compete for the US championship in 1950, thereby breaking tennis’s color barrier. In two memoirs, Marble also showed herself to be an at-times unreliable narrator of her own life, which Madeleine Blais navigates skillfully, especially Marble’s dramatic claims of having been a spy during World War II. In Queen of the Court, the author of the bestselling In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle recaptures a glittering life story.

Ex-stripper Shana Lee Jones thinks she's finally left her disreputable past behind when she convinces her wealthy husband, former outlaw biker Wayne Jones, to bail out bankrupt Belle Vista Country Club. To the horror of its elite members, Shana arrives on the club's historic grounds with a TV crew in tow, and begins filming her very own tennis reality show, Queen of the Court. From day one, the show is an epic disaster for the socially prominent members, especially the "Bitches of Belle Vista," who play on the club's prestigious ladies' tennis team. As the cameras capture humiliating episodes ranging from wardrobe malfunctions to on-court cat fights, team captain Allie Beech becomes desperate to take back "her" club before Queen of the Court ruins her husband's political ambitions. She launches a relentless public campaign to ostracize the sincere but hopelessly tacky Shana, while privately delving into the disappearance of heiress Pippa Edgemoor, whose trust fund could free Belle Vista from the Joneses. However, Allie doesn't realize that her investigation could reveal unsavory secrets long hidden by the privileged and pedigreed denizens of Belle Vista, including her own mother. Shana, meanwhile, discovers that there are parts of your past you just can't outrun, especially in four-inch heels. This is a rollicking, enjoyable novel with an unlikely and audacious heroine, Shana Jones, who takes on country club society with hilarious results. Queen of the Court serves up an entertaining mix of social satire, mystery and just plain fun.

Payton and Renika are back for another season of Hickory Adams High volleyball action. Payton still hasn't quite figured out how to transfer her superstar basketball skills to the volleyball court and the new JV players are all too aware of her lack of skill even through the coach still has her starting. When Renika tries to intervene and pull the JV team together, she finds that the new girl Val is out to sabotage Payton's authority, resulting in a divided team that can't compete. Will Payton help the JV team get it together or will they fall apart and lose their chance to be "Queens of the Court."

One of the biggest stars in tennis, Serena Williams has captured every major title. Her 2009 Australian Open championship earned her the number one world ranking for the third time in her illustrious career-and marked only the latest exclamation point in a life well and purposefully lived. As a young girl, Serena began training with an adult-size racquet that was almost as big as she was. Rather than dropping the racquet, Serena saw it as a challenge to overcome - and she has confronted every obstacle on her path to success with the same unflagging spirit. From growing up in the tough, hardscrabble neighborhood of Compton, California, to being trained by her father on public tennis courts littered with broken glass and drug paraphernalia, to becoming the top women's player in the world, Serena has proven to be an inspiration to her legions of fans both young and old. Her accomplishments have not been won without struggle. She has been derailed by injury, criticized for her unorthodox approach to tennis, and was devastated by the tragic shooting of her older sister. Yet somehow Serena always manages to prevail, both on and off the court. She's applied the same strength and determination that helped her to become a champion to her successful pursuits in philanthropy, fashion, television, and film. In this compelling and poignant memoir, Serena takes an empowering look at her extraordinary life and what is still to come.

Features the court of Britain's longest-reigning monarch Royalty and the Victorian era, with coverage of the people, pageantry, and power of Queen Victoria's court. Beginning with the Queen's 1897 Diamond Jubilee, this book describes her long reign. It paints a portrait of a unique ruler at the height of empire.

"Originally published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing, Great Britain, as Elizabeth's Bedfellows: An Intimate History of the Queen's Court"--T.p. verso.

The hotly anticipated American edition of Robert Hardman's biography of Queen Elizabeth (formerly Our Queen in the U.K.)—An intimate portrait of England's soon-to-be longest reigning queen, in celebration of her diamond jubilee—and the first-ever book interview with her grandson, Prince William. History has known no monarch like her. She has traveled farther than all her predecessors put together and lived longer than any of them. She has known more historic figures than anyone alive—from Churchill to Mandela, de Gaulle to Obama. Now, the distinguished royal writer Robert Hardman has been granted special access to the world of Queen Elizabeth II to produce this enthralling new portrait of one of the most popular pubic figures on earth. Not only has Elizabeth II reigned through Britain’s transformation from an imperial power to a multi-cultural nation, but she has also steered the monarchy through more reforms in the last twenty-five years than in the previous century. Queen Elizabeth II sits at the head of an ancient institution that remains simultaneously popular, regal, inclusive, and relevant in a twenty-first-century world. It is down to neither luck nor longevity: it is down to the shrewd judgment of a thoroughly modern monarchy—with no small assistance from the longest-serving consort in history. Here is the inside story.

When I look back over my long and tempestuous life, I can see that much of what happened to me—my triumphs and most of my misfortunes—was due to my passionate relationships with men. I was a woman who considered herself their equal—and in many ways their superior—but it seemed that I depended on them, while seeking to be the dominant partner—an attitude which could hardly be expected to bring about a harmonious existence. Eleanor of Aquitaine was revered for her superior intellect, extraordinary courage, and fierce loyalty. She was equally famous for her turbulent relationships, which included marriages to the kings of both France and England. As a child, Eleanor reveled in her beloved grandfather’s Courts of Love, where troubadours sang of romantic devotion and passion filled the air. In 1137, at the age of fifteen, Eleanor became Duchess of Aquitaine, the richest province in Europe. A union with Louis VII allowed her to ascend the French throne, yet he was a tepid and possessive man and no match for a young woman raised in the Courts of Love. When Eleanor met the magnetic Henry II, the first Plantagenet King of England, their stormy pairing set great change in motion—and produced many sons and daughters, two of whom would one day reign in their own right. In this majestic and sweeping story, set against a backdrop of medieval politics, intrigue, and strife, Jean Plaidy weaves a tapestry of love, passion, betrayal, and heartbreak—and reveals the life of a most remarkable woman whose iron will and political savvy enabled her to hold her own against the most powerful men of her time.

No one returns from Faerie unchanged... but most don't return from Faerie at all... Tabitha and Lysander are out of the Iron Court's sights - for now. Tabitha's convinced that they will be safe if only they can get to the Otherworld, where she hopes she will also finally discover the answers to her questions about the hagstone. And when they meet a mysterious, handsome faery who promises he can take them straight to the Queen's Court, it seems like all Tabitha's wishes have come true. But it quickly turns out that the Kingdom of Faerie isn't quite what she expected it to be... Tabitha and Lysander don't know who or what to trust any more. And the closer they get to the Court of the Faerie Queen, the darker and more wicked Faerie seems to grow... Will Tabitha and Lysander find the answers they're looking for in the Queen's Court? And even if they do - will they be able to return to the human world again afterwards? The Queen's Court is the third instalment in the River Witch series, a fairytale-inspired fantasy series set in post-technology Britain.