Kirjahaku

It is 1474 and England is finally at peace after 25 years of internecine bloodshed where Yorkists and Lancastrians battled for the crown. On the throne sits Edward IV with his beautiful queen, Elizabeth Woodville, at his side. But past grudges have not been forgotten and beneath the intoxicating glamour of the royal court lies a secret with death trailing in its wake. Into this glorious summer of Yorkist rule comes Cecily, Lady Harington, a wealthy young heiress, married to Thomas Grey, eldest son of the queen's first marriage - "a nothing" in the words of Cecily's mother. William Hastings, Cecily's beloved stepfather, is the king's closest friend but he is also the queen's enemy. As the mystery surrounding her mother-in-law deepens and people start dying, Cecily attempts to uncover the truth but when chaos engulfs her family and the two young princes disappear into the Tower, she finds herself alone and in danger as those she loves and once trusted, prove false. The Woodville Conspiracy is a story of love and betrayal with at its heart a secret which will forever lie buried beneath the battlefield at Bosworth.

1514. Henry VIII decides to marry his sister Mary to Louis XII, the elderly King of France. Accompanying Mary to her wedding is her cousin, seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Grey. Despite a magnificent reception in Abbeville, not everyone at the French court welcomes the English bride. Some, like Madame Louise, mother of Louis's heir, would like to see Mary dead. But it is Louis who dies and Elizabeth who must twice put herself in danger to save her cousin. Just when all seems lost, Mary finds a path to personal happiness. But her choice comes at a price and it is not only Mary who must pay. From the menacing world of the French court and the glittering extravaganza of the Field of the Cloth of Gold to the tinder box that is Tudor Ireland, The Mirror of Naples is a story of the enduring power of love and the cost to a young woman of having what she wants.

It is 1540. Queen Jane is dead, and Henry VIII is about to embark on a fourth marriage. New to court is Agnes Leigh, a young woman with connections to the powerful Howard family. When Henry discards his queen to marry Katherine Howard, Agnes sees an opportunity for advancement and a chance to find a husband. Henry is besotted with his young wife and showers her with gifts, but beneath the glittering surface, life at court is not as rosy as it appears. When Katherine's sexual indiscretions are uncovered, the young women in her household immediately come under suspicion – Were they complicit? What did they know? Who did they see? With the king swearing vengeance, Agnes and her friends are in real anger. With her reputation tarnished by association with a promiscuous queen, only one man is prepared to rescue Agnes - but he is the last person she wants to marry. From the excitements of life in the royal palaces to Norwich and the scene of an armed rebellion, Maids of Dishonour navigates Agnes through fourteen years of turbulent Tudor rule until an unexpected late-night visitor forces her to face her fears and choose a side.

It is 1596. "Affection is false. Love is an illusion” - says the elderly Queen of England. But who is deceiving whom? In the aftermath of her sister’s elopement, sober, scholarly Frances Randolph becomes entangled with the sons of Lord Cobham, one of the queen's most powerful councillors: Henry, the indecisive heir; William, the adventurer and risk-taker; and George, the youngest and cleverest. In a whirl of parties and evening entertainments she is drawn into a new circle of acquaintances whose lives at court seem incredibly glamorous. But when overwhelming grief leads to a reckless decision, Frances embarks on a future course which leads her to question the queen’s words. In My Francesca we follow Frances as she embraces this world of pretence and deceit, where nothing is quite what it seems, where courtiers fear for their futures, and evil lurks in the darkest corners of men's souls.