Hidden identities, rising political and religious tension, sensual awakening, and artistic vision come together in Vanora Bennett's luminous and absorbing historical novel of Tudor England reminiscent of the works of Phillipa Gregory, Sarah Dunant, and Tracy Chevalier. 1527. A dark curtain has fallen across Europe. Martin Luther's break with the Vatican has led to civil war and artistic censorship, forcing the renowned portraitist Hans Holbein the...

"Hidden in the language of Shakespeare's best-loved comedy Much Ado About Nothing are several clues to an intriguing tale. It seems that the witty lovers Beatrice and Benedick had a previous love affair that ended bitterly. But how did they meet? Why did they part? And what brought them together again?When nineteen year old Beatrice is brought to live at her uncle's court in Sicily to be a companion to his daughter, she first meets Benedick, a young...

"In this compelling novel of Tudor drama and suspense, acclaimed author Alison Weir brings to life one of England's most scandalous royal love affairs: the romance between the 'Virgin Queen' Elizabeth I and her courtier Lord Robert Dudley. Only twenty-five and newly crowned, Elizabeth vows to rule the country as both queen and king. But her counselors continually press her to form an advantageous marriage and produce an heir. Though none of the suitors...

"Ever since her sister disappeared eleven years ago, Serena Warren has been running from a ghost, haunted by what she can’t remember about that night.When Caitlin’s body is discovered, Serena returns to her grandfather’s house, nestled beside the ruins of Minster Lovell Hall in Oxfordshire, determined to uncover the truth. But in returning to the place of her childhood summers, Serena stands poised at the brink of a startling...

"The latest novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory features one of the most famous girls in history, Lady Jane Grey, and her two sisters, each of whom dared to defy her queen. Seventeen-year-old Jane Grey was queen of England for nine days. Her father and his allies crowned her instead of the dead king's half-sister Mary Tudor, who quickly mustered an army, claimed her throne, and locked Jane in the Tower of London. When...

"Browsing an antiques shop in Wiltshire, Alison Bannister stumbles across a delicate old portrait́identified as the doomed Tudor queen, Anne Boleyn. Except Alison knows better. The subject is Mary Seymour, the daughter of Katherine Parr, who was taken to Wolf Hall in 1557 and presumed dead after going missing as a child. And Alison knows this because she, too, lived at Wolf Hall and knew Mary...more than four hundred years ago. The painting of Mary...

"Young Katherine of Aragon, daughter of Spain's powerful monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, was an exquisite prize in the royal marriage market. Golden-haired, sixteen years old, she was sent to England to marry the future king, Arthur, Prince of Wales. But when Arthur died a few months after their wedding, Katherine's bright future was suddenly eclipsed. It took his younger brother Henry VIII eight long years to do the honorable thing and marry her....

Queen Elizabeth I, daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII and later England's most beloved monarch, was banished by her father at the age of two, but is readmitted to the Tudor fold at nine when Henry's sixth wife, Katherine Parr, softens his heart towards Elizabeth. After Henry's death, Katherine marries Thomas Seymour, a shallow man of reckless ambition. The amoral Seymour orchestrates his master plan to capture the crown, one that includes the...

"United in sisterhood by birth and marriage, Katherine of Aragon, Queen of England; Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots; and Mary Tudor, Queen of France immediately recognize each other as both allies and rivals in the treacherous world of court and national politics. Their bonds extend beyond natural and expeditious loyalties, as romance, scandal, war, and religion inextricably unite these three for better or for worse"-- Adapted from Booklist.