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Watch the Lady by Elizabeth Fremantle (view source)
Revision as of 14:40, 16 June 2015
, 14:40, 16 June 2015no edit summary
Queen Elizabeth I is in her autumnal years and becoming increasingly pre-occupied with fear of potential plots and coups catching up with her – and perhaps justifiably so. This is how young Penelope Devereux finds Her Majesty (Penelope's godmother) on Penelope's acceptance at court. It's a dangerous time to be a royal maid, especially in young Miss Devereux's case with a banished mother, a step-father who is one of Elizabeth's favourites and the realisation that the girl has been placed there to spy for the family. However the Devereux interests will be served even if the game that Penelope plays is a fatal one.
I'm not saying that former ''Vanity Fayre'' editor [[:CatgegoryCategory:Elizabeth Fremantle|Elizabeth Fremantle]] can do no wrong, just that even after this third novel, I'm still awaiting a wrong-doing moment. For after Katherine Parr and Henry VIII in [[The Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle|The Queen's Gambit]] and the Grey [[Sisters of Treason by Elizabeth Fremantle|Sisters of Treason]] and Queen Mary, we now have Penelope Devereux and Elizabeth I, each one being cracking, in a good way.
Although I'd heard of Penelope's brother Earl of Essex and her step-father Leicester, I'd never heard of her. It's odd to think that history side lined her as she wasn't exactly a shrinking violet. She may have been placed at court by her mother's ambitions but she was more than ready to hatch and lead the plots and plans that ensued as she and her family continued to wish for a future ruled over by James VI of Scotland years ahead of their time.