Philippa Gregory continues her focus on the Tudor dynasty with another great read. This time, the focus is on the love triangle that has formed between the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth, her friend and lover Robert Dudley, and his wife Amy.

Elizabeth has been doing a good job of getting a handle on being the ruler of her small island nation. This is in spite of the religious disparities among her people. This is highlighted when the Pope offers a dispensation for anyone who might want to protect the true faith by assassinating her. The result is a country where she is having trouble finding a bishop who will actually crown her in an official coronation.

If that were the least of her problems, Elizabeth would be struggling, but she is also confronted with a country with a high level of debt, a French monarch in Scotland (Queen Mary Guise) who would love to spread her own kingdom by taking the throne of England, and an army that is demoralized by a lack of pay while they fend of a potential civil war and a possible invasion out of the north.

With the help of William Cecil, her closest court adviser, Elizabeth navigates through this time of difficulty, which also includes a political need to find a husband. Elizabeth, who is less than thrilled, with the various options because she has no intention of ceding power to a husband when she can lead just as well. The potential husbands include King Philip of Spain (her sister's widower), a pair of archdukes from Austria, a prince from Sweden, and even the unlikely choice of her beloved Dudley.

Throughout the book, Elizabeth deftly handles the various challenges, proving to be one of England's most able monarchs. At the same time, Elizabeth does not always come across as being the noble monarch that history has seemed to portray her as. There is definitely evidence of a queen with more human failings, such as selfishness, jealously and even a willingness to connive to get her man.

This becomes most evidence in the presentation of the love triangle. All three characters are presented with a certain level of sympathy. There is no question that there are feelings involved among the two couples. Amy is definitely dedicated to her beloved husband Robert, but their relationship is scarred by his need to achieve this family's previous high ranking in the kingdom, particularly since he might have a chance of ruling himself if he was to marry Elizabeth. Elizabeth also cares a great deal for Robert, and makes some moves that would be surprising to increase the chances of their being able to be together.

As usual, Gregory has done a wonderful job of capturing the feel of the period with her writing and research. She carefully describes the mystery with which the book concludes so the readers will know what is really known about it and why she made certain choices in presenting it in that manner. The mystery itself is made more complex by the flawed, likable, yet human people that are involved.

Surprisingly, court intrigue is not highlighted quite on the same level as in the previous books in the series. That is likely because the conflicts are really not totally from within the court, but from outside influences or within Elizabeth's love life. The one exception is the really interesting dynamic that occurs as Cecil and Dudley vie for political superiority in her court. Neither is really fond of the other, and they both seem to know that the other is a threat to their own place in the queen's favor.

This is definitely a must-read for fan's of Gregory's works, though, I think it could be read without having access to the earlier books. Their is one section at the beginning of the book in which Amy interacts with Hannah Green, the protagonist from the previous book in the series, but it is done in a way that no previous knowledge of the character is needed to understand what is going on.

I have quickly grown addicted to Gregory and this series!