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Life has never been quiet for Frances Gorges at the court of King James, but after finding herself at the center of plots and conspiracies for many years both as an accused witch and a secret Catholic, by 1614 Frances hopes to distance herself from the decadence and ruthlessness of the aging and venal monarch. However, when a handsome stranger appears at a courtier’s country estate, he immediately draws the wandering eyes of the King, throwing the established order of the court into upheaval. George Villiers is ambitious and violent, ready to take down whatever—and whoever—stands in his way, including Frances and her husband Sir Thomas Tyringham.
New friends and old alliances—from Francis Bacon and Prince Charles to Sir Walter Raleigh—will offer Frances ways to resist the treachery of Villiers, but danger and Catholic plotting always lurks just around the corner, and sometimes from unexpected sources. With her meticulous eye for detail and evocative storytelling, Tracy Borman’s The Fallen Angel is a riveting conclusion to her trilogy set during the first Stuart monarch’s reign.
Praise for The Devil’s Slave
“Gripping historical fiction with a daring character in Lady Frances.”—New York Journal of Books
Praise for The King’s Witch
Named a Best Summer Debut by Library Journal
“Vivid . . . Everything you would want to read in a novel, ranging from palatial royals and intrigues to betrayals to a love story.”—Washington Book Review, “Essential Novels for This Summer”
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
November 10, 2020 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780802157638
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780802157638
- File size: 6006 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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May 1, 2020
Suspected of witchcraft and hiding her Catholicism, Frances Gorges has nimbly navigated the court of King James. By 1614 she's had enough, but in this trilogy wrap-up (following The King's Witch and The Devil's Slave), she and her husband must counter threats from a handsome, dangerous stranger who intrigues the king.
Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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November 15, 2020
The final installment of Borman's lively trilogy--begun in The King's Witch (2018) and The Devil's Slave (2019)--about a secretly Catholic woman embedded in the treacherous court of King James I. Frances, now mother of two sons, has again left her country retreat for James' court, this time due to her own mixed concern and longing for her husband, Sir Thomas Tyringham, whose duties as master of buckhounds keep him locked into the busy royal hunting schedule. At court, excitement mounts thanks to an element the first two volumes of this series lacked: a truly diabolical antagonist. Frances is not exactly welcome at court--in fact, ladies-in-waiting have no function since Queen Anne now lives apart from the king. James' closest and most powerful advisers are now his male "favourites"--and the newest and most virulently scheming of these is George Villiers. Thanks to his angelic looks, seductive charm, and complete lack of scruples, Villiers is soon the king's de facto consort, garnering the Order of the Garter and a dukedom along the way. Villiers is vicious to anyone in that way, including Thomas, whose work life Villiers, as master of horse, makes miserable--he is the ultimate bad boss. Villiers is also responsible for the loss of Frances' pregnancy when he deliberately causes her to fall. Despite this, and Villiers' threats to leverage her deepest secrets against her, Frances seems remarkably slow to anger, and the lengthy timeline dilutes the conflict--the action here spans 14 years. Also straining belief is the number of occasions Frances stumbles, unobserved, upon Villiers' depraved assignations. Frances' overriding aim is to restore Catholicism to England: In this she is joined by other closet Catholics, including the crown prince, Charles, and Kate, an heiress whom Villiers will stop at nothing, literally, to wed for her money. Scenes starring Villiers come alive as the other characters cope, ineffectually and overcautiously, with the viper in their midst. Entertaining and delicious Stuart-era scandalmongering.COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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