The King's Witch
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3.6 • 11 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In the acclaimed historian’s debut novel, a lady-in-waiting in the court of King James is caught up in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
England, 1603. Nursing Queen Elizabeth through her last days, court healer Frances Gorges dreams of her parents’ country estate, where she first learned to use the medicinal secrets of flowers and herbs. Frances is happy to stay at home when King James of Scotland succeeds to the throne of England. His court may be shockingly decadent, but his intolerant Puritanism sees witchcraft in many of the old customs—punishable by death.
When her ambitious uncle sends Frances back to the royal palace as a nanny to the princess, she is a ready target for the twisted scheming of the Privy Seal, Lord Cecil. As a dark campaign to destroy both King and Parliament gains momentum, Frances is surrounded by danger. She finding happiness only with the King’s precocious daughter, and with Tom Wintour, the one courtier she feels she can trust. But even he has secrets to hide…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Borman (The Private Lives of the Tudors) lures readers into this first in a series of historical novels set during the reign of the Stuarts. In 1603 England, healer Lady Frances Gorges returns to her family home of Longford after nursing Queen Elizabeth I through her dying days. Frances is forced to leave the idyll of Longford at the demand of her uncle, Lord of Northampton, who has secured her a position in the household of young Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King James, Elizabeth's successor. Though Frances warms to the effervescent princess and young lawyer Tom Wintour, she despises the court's debauchery and is fearful of using her healing skills after witnessing the execution of a supposed witch. Yet Frances's refusal to ignore pleas to help an ill child ends in disaster when the child dies, and she is arrested and tortured to determine if she is a witch. When the charges are dropped and she is released to tend to the ill Elizabeth, Frances's blossoming romance with Thomas becomes complicated when he reveals a secret, and Frances must decide if she will remain loyal to Thomas. Borman is an astute chronicler of 17th-century English life, keenly depicting the excesses of the court and the dangers of religious persecution. The vivid detail and effortless storytelling will appeal to many readers, particularly fans of historicals in the vein of Alison Weir and Philippa Gregory.
