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.

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 *
One for the scholarly super-sleuths among us * Big Issue *

Jane Stevenson is the author of two collections of novellas, Several Deceptions and Good Women, and four novels, London Bridges, Astraea, The Pretender and The Empress of the Last Days. She is reader in English at the University of Aberdeen.