Title: The Elizabeth Tudor Conspiracy - The Marquess House Trilogy #2
Author: Alexandra Walsh
Publisher: 1st June 2019 by Sapere Books
Pages: 475 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: historical fiction, mystery
My Rating: 4.5 cups
Synopsis:
A timeshift conspiracy thriller that will shock you to your core! Perfect for fans of Dan Brown, Philippa Gregory, Kate Mosse and Tom Harper.
Was Elizabeth I really the last Tudor princess…?
Nonsuch Palace, England, 1586
Elizabeth I has been queen for 28 years. She has survived hundreds of plots against her but now she faces the revelation of a secret she thought would remain hidden forever…
Elizabeth is not the last of the Tudor line — there are two more legitimate heirs to her crown.
Her sworn enemy, Philip II, King of Spain, has discovered the secret and thinks he can control the missing princess as his puppet queen.
Can Elizabeth maintain control over her throne? And what happened to the lost Tudor heirs?
Castle Jerusalem, Andorra, 2018
Dr Perdita Rivers and her twin sister Piper are safely hidden in Andorra.
Despite their narrow escape from those pursuing them, Perdita is determined to continue her grandmother’s legacy by uncovering her ground-breaking research into the English royal bloodline.
But she soon realises that nothing about the Tudor era was as it seemed. And now the national identity of Great Britain must be called into question.
With their enemies still tracking them and the lives of those they love in deadly risk, Perdita and Piper must succeed in exposing the secrets of history or there is no hope of them escaping alive...
THE ELIZABETH TUDOR CONSPIRACY is the second book in the Marquess House trilogy, a dual timeline conspiracy thriller with an ingenious twist on a well-known period of Tudor history.
My Thoughts
I loved the first book in this trilogy, The Catherine Howard Conspiracy (HERE), so it was with great anticipation that I embarked on the second book. It did not disappoint. If you enjoyed the first, this book follows a similar style with chapters in the past and present with a mystery that continues to unravel. However, you most definitely need to have read book one before reading this latest instalment.
‘Would a woman be capable of reigning for so long without a man to guide her while creating a prosperous country and resolving so many of its political issues? Elizabeth worried most men of her era because she was strong, politically astute, clever and educated to a higher standard than most of her privy council’
Returning to this clever scenario set up by the author, I still thoroughly embraced and enjoyed the whole twist on the accepted thinking of the Tudor lineage. The dual narrative once again works well as the author has really done her research in an attempt to make the whole plot appear plausible! Love it! On the flip side however, I did not find this book to read at quite the same pace of the first but found it still to be a rollicking good tale. Also, for the Elizabethan chapters, you really had to be thinking straight with the large (and I mean large) assortment of characters (all real though - which is actually mind blowing when you think about it). However, sometimes it did read a little like a history text book of ‘who’s who’ and you had to look past the rather large information dumps. Similar to the first, you really have to suspend your logical thinking and just go with it, for given the combination of fact and fiction, it really makes you wonder just what could have been.
On the contemporary side of things, the story surrounding the MI1 Elite conspiracy is fun with all the characters returning from the first book and some loose ends tied up. It really is a wonderful trilogy and I can’t wait to read the final instalment. The author’s note at the end helps to explain exactly where her thinking was coming from and how she tried to substantiate her claims. If you are a Tudor fan, you simply cannot pass up this opportunity to read a most effective and plausible version of events. It is Tudor history at its best.
‘Contrary doesn’t even begin to cover it but if you filter in all that we’ve discovered, these strange decisions begin to make more sense.’
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.
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