The Queen’s Sorrow – Suzannah Dunn

The Queen's Sorrow - Suzannah DunnFollowing straight on from Lady Jane Grey / Queen Jane The Lady of MisruleThe Queen’s Sorrow covers the first year of the reign of Queen Mary – her marriage to Philip II of Spain, her first phantom pregnancy, and England’s return to Catholicism 20 years after Henry VIII’s break with Rome and 6 years of pure Protestantism under Edward VI.

It’s an oblique telling, through the eyes of Spanish sundial-maker Raphael. Far from home and family, he finds himself lodging with an English family, the Kitsons, and becomes friends with their housekeeper, Cecily, and tries to befriend her four year old son, Nicholas.

A chance encounter with the Queen and a misunderstanding of her faith ultimately have terrible consequences.

Publisher’s page: The Queen’s Sorrow – Suzannah Dunn