A “tense, absorbing, and highly entertaining“ novel about the younger days of Elizabeth I, as the Virgin Queen is surrounded by deception and danger (Library Journal).
Banished as a child from the court of Henry VIII—when the king had her mother, Anne Boleyn, executed—young Elizabeth grew up outside the machinations of the royal court. Then Henry married Catherine Parr, who convinced him to allow Elizabeth to return.
When the kind died in 1547, the crown went to Elizabeth’s nine-year-old brother. But the true ruler of England is Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, who has boldly named himself Lord Protector and effectively seized power.
Meanwhile the duke’s equally ambitious brother Thomas deployed his charm and sexual magnetism to utmost effect by persuading Henry’s widow Catherine to marry him. His real goal, however, is the late king’s daughter: Elizabeth herself. And so the game begins—one with rules that only the ruthless, amoral Thomas understands. Into this intrigue are drawn both those who love Elizabeth and those who wish her ill. In order to escape certain doom and achieve independence, Elizabeth must stand alone.
A book of passion, greed and political ambition in sixteenth century England, this final novel in the Tudor Trilogy is “an intriguing slice of Elizabethan history” (Publishers Weekly).
