Queen's Lady » (Bargain)

Barbara Kyle, a classically trained actor, enjoyed a successful career in Canadian television and theater before turning her hand to writing fiction. She and her husband live in Ontario, where she teaches popular writing seminars and workshops.

London, 1527. Marry or serve: for Honor Larke, the choice is clear. Unwilling to perish of boredom as an obedient wife, she leaves the home of her ward to attend Her Majesty, Queen Catherine of Aragon. But life at Henry VIII's court holds more than artifice for an intelligent observer, and Honor knows how to watch—and when to act...

Angered by the humiliation heaped upon her mistress as Henry cavorts with Anne Boleyn and presses Rome for a divorce, Honor volunteers to carry letters to the Queen's allies. It's a risky game, but Honor is confident—until she's proven wrong by dashing courtier Richard Thornleigh—a man who awakens her heart, and who also has something to hide.... Swept into a tide of intrigue and danger that stretches across Europe, the Queen's lady is about to learn everything: about pride, passion, greed—and the conscience of the King...

"Weaves a fast-paced plot through some of the most harrowing years of English history."—Judith Merkle Riley

"Excellent, exciting, compellingly readable."—Ellen Jones

Includes a Reading Group Guide!

Publishers Weekly

Born just as the violent overthrow of the Catholic Church begins in 1527 Tudor England, Honor Larke is alternately pulled and pushed by her conscience: she wants to save heretics from burning, but desires to see her once beloved guardian, Thomas More, punished for his reforming ways. Meanwhile, Erasmus, Catherine of Aragon, Henry Tudor, Anne Boleyn and More himself charm, pummel and sweep their way through history. Fully grown, Honor meets and employs Thomas Thornleigh, a merchant and courtier who she vastly misjudges-at first. Firsthand experience with the horrors of persecution on both sides forces Honor into an unusual decision of where to put her faith. Compelling narrative and characterization make Kyle's debut comparable with the likes of Margaret George and Kathleen Windsor. (Aug.)

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