3x Historical Novels

All clearance bundles are shop damaged and so will have minor external marks and/or creases.  There may also be some closed edge tanning.

- No reading creases or page separation
- No internal damage

A COURT AFFAIR - by Emily Purdy - 9781847563446

Passion, Treachery, Betrayal. The virgin queen has arrived…

Uncovering the love triangle between Queen Elizabeth I, Robert Dudley, and his wife Amy, and her mysterious death,
A Court Affair is an unforgettable story of ambition, lust and jealousy.

The future of the realm is in her hands…

Accused of conspiring with rebels to steal the throne, Princess Elizabeth is confined to the Tower of London by her half-sister, Queen Mary. There she finds solace in the arms of fellow prisoner – her childhood friend, Robert Dudley. But with Elizabeth’s ascension to the crown, Robert returns to his wife and the unhappy union he believes cheated him of his destiny to be king.

As Anne Boleyn’s daughter, Elizabeth knows the cruelty of marriage and roundly rejects her many suitors – with the exception of the power-hungry Robert. But their relationship carries a risk that could shake the very foundations of the House of Tudor. . .

A Court Affair is a fascinating portrait of both the rise of Elizabeth I and one of the most compelling periods in history.

LEONARDO'S SWANS - by Karen Essex - 9781846050404

Worldly and ambitious, Isabella d'Este is a legendary beauty and when she weds the Marquis of Mantua, all her dreams seem to come true. Superior in looks and intellect to her sister, the spirited but naive Beatrice, Isabella believes she is destined to rule the courts of Italy.

But her triumph is short-lived. When Beatrice is betrothed to Ludovico, the Duke of Milan, Isabella finds herself drawn to her sister's husband, a man as dangerous as he is charismatic. Locked in a fierce rivalry, the sisters fight for Ludovico's affections and for the larger prize, to be immortalized by his court painter, Leonardo da Vinci. Meanwhile Da Vinci fights a battle of his own, to escape the incessant pressure of his noble patrons.

But in a treacherous political climate, immortality through art becomes a luxury, and the two sisters must choose between loyalty and survival.

THE FLOATING THEATRE - by Martha Conway -  9781785762840

1838. A divided nation. To save the lives of others May Bedloe must risk her own....

The Ohio River.

May Bedloe is a seamstress to her cousin, the flamboyant actress Comfort Virtue. When they board the doomed Moselle their paths cross with Mrs Flora Howard, a wealthy abolitionist and notorious opportunist. Mrs Howard is quick to lure Comfort to her cause - a cause, it seems, that has no use for quiet little May.

Casting out on her own for the first time, May lands a job on Hugo Cushin's wondrous Floating Theatre - a flatboat that sails the Ohio performing plays to the townsfolk along the way. Though shy at first, May quickly finds herself drawn into the eccentric troupe of characters aboard her new home: to sanctimonious, haughty Mrs Niffen and her browbeaten husband; to kind and gentle Leo, who steers the theatre from one riverbank town to the next; to sweet, open-hearted Liddy; and most of all, to the inscrutable Hugo himself. As the boat drifts south down the river, May gradually learns what it means to belong on her own terms, and how to fashion a family of sorts from this ragtag bunch of players.

But just as May's new life is beginning to take shape around her, the reappearance of Comfort and Mrs Howard threatens to throw everything off course. To repay an old debt, May is not only compelled to break the law but also to guard a secret which puts the fate of the whole theatre - and all her hopes for a happy future - at risk....