Gregory continues her Tudor family sage with this addition to the series. It is presented with a unique twist. Rather than using one of the family members as a narrator telling the story, readers are introduced to Hannah Green. Hannah is a 14-year-old Jewish girl who had come to England with her father years previous in order to escape from the Spanish Inquisition. Her mother was not so lucky.

Upon arriving, the Greens settled down and opened a book store and publishing house. Hannah and her father put themselves forward as good Christians, but still practice the Faith in secret. This includes a secret stash of Jewish texts that her father prints and sells. Hannah works in the shop dressed as a boy.

Their faith is not the only secret that Hannah has. She has also been gifted with the Sight, the ability to see beyond the earthly plain. This primarily means getting short glimpses into the future, but it can also mean the ability to sense if someone is telling the truth. Unfortunately, it is not a talent that she can control at will. This also means that she is sometimes hit with a vision at the most inopportune times. Unfortunately, with all the fears and attacks on witches, no one wants to be accused of practicing the Craft.

It is her talent that brings her to the notice of two important men in the court of King Edward VI, the son of Henry VIII. John Dee and Lord Robert Dudley enter the shop with the hopes of making a purchase. When Hannah greets them, she greets three men because she sees that they are joined by an angel. When it is realized that she has a sense of the supernatural, Hannah and her father's worst fears seem on the verge of occurring. Rather than finding herself burning at the state, Hannah ends up in the employ of the household of Lord Dudley.

The reason for this is the fact that King Edward VI is a sickly young man, and the name of the person who will take the throne upon his death is very much in question. Henry VIII's two other children (Princesses Mary through Queen Katherine of Aragon and Elizabeth through Anne Boleyn) both have a claim, but England has never had a tradition of a female monarch. Many fear a civil war between the claimants, even if those numbers are limited to the two princesses. Making things even more interesting is the fact that Mary is likely to bring England back into the Catholic Church while Elizabeth would keep the country Protestant.

Besides looking into the future, Hannah also takes on the role of Fool for the king. She ends up become drawn into the center of the court. As a result of this and Dudley's trust in her, she is given the assignment of serving as the fool to Edward's eldest sister Mary while also spying on the likely future monarch. Surprisingly, Hannah finds herself torn by her duties as she learns to enjoy the company of Mary and she also finds herself falling in love with Lord Dudley. This becomes even more complicated when Mary does in fact become queen upon Edward VI's death.

Her involvement creates some problems for Hannah's family. When they arrived in England, Hannah and her father were brought into the underground Jewish community in the country. As part of that, she was betrothed to Daniel Carpenter, a young man from a promising family who is studying to become a doctor. With her constantly being at Court, the two are very rarely able to see each other, and their wedding has been pushed off indefinitely. This is a problem that will create long term challenges for their future.

As much as she cares for Daniel, Hannah is unable to leave Court to wed him as long as she is needed at Court. With many believing that Elizabeth poses a threat to the throne, Hannah is sent by Lord Dudley to repeat her earlier assignment once again, only with the other Tudor sister. Once again, she finds herself in a friendship with the woman she has been assigned to spy on. To make matters worse, Mary's insecurities about her hold on the country has led to prosecution of the Protestants in a country she has remolded Catholic. Protestants, like witches are being burned, for their blasphemous beliefs. Hannah is torn between her shared love, respect, and wariness for the two sisters.

Mary does finds support in the form of her new husband, one of the princes of Spain. The two countries are once again tied together by their Catholic beliefs, but their new alliance will lead them into war with their enemies.

Hannah finally reaches the point when she must leave the Court because she can do nothing to help. She finally does wed Daniel, and they move to continental Europe. Their they face all sorts of challenges from both the new blended family that involves her father as well as his mother and sisters to England's developing war with France. It quickly becomes clear that their relationship may not survive either strain even as Hannah finds herself pulled back into England, the Court, and all its intrigue.

I really did enjoy this volume just as much as the previous books in the series. I have always been interested in the period and Gregory does a wonderful job of bringing the historical figures to life with her storytelling.

What is really interesting is that the narrator's perspective definitely affects how the figures are portrayed. For example, Elizabeth is not presented in the kindest of lights. As much as Hannah grows to care about her, the Virgin Queen is portrayed anything but. She is also not the dedicated monarch we have come to learn about in our history classes. Through much of her youth, Elizabeth is presented as a sickly girl/young woman who finds herself bed-bound due to illness. I am curious how the next book will go as it focuses on the period in which Elizabeth sits on the throne.

I definitely couldn't put this one down!