After the death of her father, Henry VIII, a young Elizabeth journeys to London to live with her father's widow, Katherine Parr, and her new husband, Thomas Seymour, brother-in-law to King Edward. Surrounded by malicious whisperings of her late mother's witchcraft, Elizabeth is desperate to escape suspicion and discover the truth about her mother. A young stranger asserting Anne's Boleyn's innocence sends her on search a that takes her on a dangerous midnight journey to Bedlam, the hospital for the insane, to meet her mother's former lady-in-waiting. This encounter changes the way she views her mother - and herself. Meanwhile, at home, Elizabeth's reputation is increasingly under threat, as her stepfather, Thomas Seymour makes unwanted advances toward her. Her stepmother witnesses a kiss and Elizabeth is sent back to Hertfordshire in disgrace. Here she falls seriously ill and rumours abound that she is hiding a pregnancy. When Thomas Seymour is arrested for treason in a plot to overthrow King Edward, Elizabeth is implicated by association.Now it is up to her to defend her integrity - and her life - From the author of the best-selling Raven Queen comes a new masterpiece of historical fiction.

 

This book was published 2011 by Usborne Publishing Ltd .

Pauline Francis's books include Drake's Drummer Boy, The Little Giant: the Story of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Television Man: the Story of John Logie Baird. Jane Tattersfield has illustrated three books accompanying television series: The India File, Celebrating India and Stories of Faith, as well as some of the Dress Sense costume books for Belitha Press.