Elizabethan espionage thriller at its very best.
A plan to remove Queen Elizabeth from the throne in favour of a supposed child of Queen Mary soon places both Bianca Merton and Nicholas Shelby at risk of their lives.
This is a complex plot that is not fully realised until near the end of the book with the complexities of who was spying for who being unresolved until the very end. What is brought to life is the real feeling of religious hatred of the time and the unwillingness to accept the other religions right to exist. On a personal level this is probably best espoused by Shelby’s father’s account of how he has had his religion changed no less than three times throughout the course of his life.
While the preceding book The Angel’s Mark set out Shelby’s story this book gives more of an indication of Bianca’s life story and the complexities this raises for her given her life in England. However it also allows Shelby to move on in a manner from the death of his wife while trying to reconcile his doctor’s training with his own beliefs and trying to balance these with being at the beckon and call of Robert Cecil.
I await the next book in this increasingly moreish series.
This is a complex plot that is not fully realised until near the end of the book with the complexities of who was spying for who being unresolved until the very end. What is brought to life is the real feeling of religious hatred of the time and the unwillingness to accept the other religions right to exist. On a personal level this is probably best espoused by Shelby’s father’s account of how he has had his religion changed no less than three times throughout the course of his life.
While the preceding book The Angel’s Mark set out Shelby’s story this book gives more of an indication of Bianca’s life story and the complexities this raises for her given her life in England. However it also allows Shelby to move on in a manner from the death of his wife while trying to reconcile his doctor’s training with his own beliefs and trying to balance these with being at the beckon and call of Robert Cecil.
I await the next book in this increasingly moreish series.