Revenger
John Shakespeare 2
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3.9 • 7 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
*****Part of the bestselling John Shakespeare series of Tudor spy thrillers from Rory Clements, winner of the Ellis Peters Historical Fiction Award*****
'[Clements] does for Elizabeth's reign what CJ Sansom does for Henry VIII's' Sunday Times
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1592. England and Spain are at war, yet there is peril at home, too. The death of her trusted spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham has left Queen Elizabeth vulnerable. Conspiracies multiply.
The quiet life of John Shakespeare is shattered by a summons from Robert Cecil, the cold but deadly young statesman who dominated the last years of the Queen's long reign, insisting Shakespeare re-enter government service. His mission: to find vital papers, now in the possession of the Earl of Essex.
Essex is the brightest star in the firmament, a man of ambition. He woos the Queen, thirty-three years his senior, as if she were a girl his age. She is flattered by him - despite her loathing for his mother, the beautiful, dangerous Lettice Knollys who presides over her own glittering court - a dazzling array of the mad, bad, dangerous and disaffected.
When John Shakespeare infiltrates this dissolute world he discovers not only that the Queen herself is in danger - but that he and his family is also a target. With only his loyal footsoldier Boltfoot Cooper at his side, Shakespeare must face implacable forces who believe themselves above the law: men and women who kill without compunction. And in a world of shifting allegiances, just how far he can trust Robert Cecil, his devious new master?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in Elizabethan England, Clements's sequel to his debut, Martyr, raises him to the top rank of historical thriller writers. John Shakespeare, the playwright's older brother, has left the intelligence world behind to teach at a small school, but he's drawn back into the treacherous world of spying by two powerful and competing rivals the earl of Essex and Queen Elizabeth's new spymaster, Sir Robert Cecil. Essex asks Shakespeare to find the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of the colonists of Roanoke, Va. One of them has reportedly been seen walking the streets of London, and Essex wants the intelligencer to confirm or dispel those rumors. Meanwhile, Cecil, who fears that Essex's scheming threatens the monarch, seeks to have Shakespeare work as a double agent. Clements presents an intricate web of plots and subplots while vividly evoking the tenor of the times. Shakespeare makes a fascinating lead, perfectly suited to sustain what one hopes will be a long series.
