Japanese Gardening: An Inspirational Guide to Designing and Creating an Authentic Japanese Garden with Over 260 Exquisite Photographs
Alex Ramsay and Charles Chesshire
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The timeless and unique Japanese garden, with its spiritual and philosophical dimensions, has for...
Create a Cottage Garden: How to Cultivate a Garden Full of Flowers, Herbs, Trees, Fruit, Vegetables and Livestock, with 500 Inspirational Photographs
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This sumptuous book starts with a history of the cottage garden. A chapter on planning and design...
The Business of Venture Capital: Insights from Leading Practitioners on the Art of Raising a Fund, Deal Structuring, Value Creation, and Exit Strategies
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The definitive guide to demystifying the venture capital business The Business of Venture Capital,...
The Sweet Shoppe Coloring Book: A Fantastical and Splendid Display of Divine Confectionary Creation and Exquisite Candied Delights
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Step inside the winsome world of the Sweet Shoppe! Welcome to the charming, whimsical world of the...
The Navy Lark: Volume 27: Have Been Masquerading
Full Cast, Jon Pertwee, Lawrie Wyman and Leslie Phillips
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Jon Pertwee, Leslie Phillips, Stephen Murray and Ronnie Barker star in four more classic radio...
Harry Potter: Page to Screen
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From the acquisition of the film rights to the casting of Harry, Ron, and Hermione and the assembly...
The fact that I haven’t (yet) read books 2-5 has made no difference at all to my great reading enjoyment, so this can be read as a one off (but why would you do that? Books 1 and 6 are fab, so I’ll be reading books 2-5 without a doubt).
Bruno is working undercover for Elizabeth I’s spymaster, Francis Walsingham, and they hope to stop what becomes known as The Babington Plot - a plot to kill Elizabeth I, break Mary Queen of Scots out of prison and put her on England’s throne instead. This is all about Elizabeth’s claim to be queen. Henry VIII has disowned her as illegitimate when Anne was beheaded, and she was a Protestant to boot! Babington and his crew are staunch catholics, and they want a catholic on the throne. Mary fits the bill.
Francis Walsingham is desperate to find an excuse to dispose of Mary, and Babington is providing the goods. There is a secret letter exchange going on between the plotters and that Walsingham knows about, but he needs to catch them in the act - and he needs to ensure that Mary implicates herself completely.
This is all historical fact, as is Bruno’s existence, and I think that’s what puts the icing on the cake for me. I love historical fiction that brings real characters to life on the page. Bruno is a great character - he’s intelligent, funny and emotional. Basically, he’s a great character to build a story around.
So much research must have gone in to this book, and I really appreciate that. The side characters add couloir and substance to the whole story.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this book, and I’ve now given myself the rather enjoyable task of catching up with Bruno!