In the hiatus between the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, Hannah Green lives a life of pretence and conflict. She is pretending to be a boy and is a Jew pretending to be a Christian. She is commanded to be a fool in the court of Edward VII, then Mary, to entertain them and use her gift of The Sight. She is ordered to spy on the Princess Mary, and to take messages and packages where others dare not go. Her betrothed falls more in love with her, while her role-model of womanhood is the precocious Princess Elizabeth. Little wonder that Hannah lives in fear for herself, her father, her extended family; for Mary, for whom she had a deep respect; for Robert Dudley, the object of her passion. Her life is interwoven with royalty and commoner, with the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth, with the underground intellectuals and the Jews trying to appear as Christians.

Those who like a historical novel with a good plot and very believable, fallible characters.

Has written "The Other Bolyn Girl" and "Katherine".

A deeper review, and study notes, may be found at: http://www.harpercollins.co.nz/books/readingnotes/reading_notes.cfm?ISBN=0007166...

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Created Aug 30, 2004 at 2:27am • Submit your own review...