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"Elizabeth St John has brought the Stuart Court vividly to life. She weaves together the known facts of Lucy’s life with colourful scenes of fictional imagination, drawing on innocent romance and bleak deception to create a believable heroine and an intriguing plot." Historic Novel Society Book Review
"The Lady of the Tower is a beautifully produced novel with a well-crafted story that will keep you both engaged and entertained. A joy to read. Thank you for sharing your world with us."
Writers Digest 24th Annual Book
Awards
London, 1609. When Lucy St.John, a beautiful highborn orphan at the court of King
James, is seduced by the Earl of Suffolk, she never imagines the powerful enemy
she creates in his beloved sister, the Countess of Rochester. Or that her own
sister Barbara would betray her and force Lucy to leave the court in disgrace.
Spirited, educated, and skilled in medicine and precious remedies, Lucy fights
her way back into society, and through an unexpected love match, becomes
mistress of the Tower of London.
Living inside the walls of the infamous prison, she defies plague, political intrigues and tragic executions to tend to aristocratic prisoners and criminals alike. Now married into the immensely powerful Villiers family, Barbara unites with the king’s favorite, the Duke of Buckingham, to raise the fortunes of Lucy and her family to dizzying heights. But with great wealth comes treachery, leaving Lucy to fight for her survival—and her honor—in a world of deceit and debauchery.
Elizabeth St.John’s critically acclaimed debut novel tells the true story of her ancestress Lucy through her family’s surviving diaries, letters, and court papers. Lucy’s personal friendships with historical figures such as Sir Walter Raleigh and the Stuart kings brings a unique perspective to the history of seventeenth-century England.
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Autumn 1470 | Westminster Sanctuary
A secret has been
conceived . . .
“Entry, in the name of God and King Henry!” My guard clouts the iron-clad door of Cheyneygates, challenging the sanctuary of Westminster Abbey. “The Lady Elysabeth Scrope demands entry!”
A murther of crows startles from the gables, cawing and whirling around my head and circling up into the clouded heavens. I join three fingers in the holy trinity and cross myself; head, chest, sinister and dexter. These ancient purveyors of death do not disturb me, for I have not survived this war to be hindered by a superstition. If there were a crow for every dead soldier, England would be a huge raucous rookery. But it never hurts to invoke God’s protection. The crows swoop and squabble and alight singly among the gargoyles on the parapets of the soot-stained Abbey. Like the granite tors of my Yorkshire home, these walls are impenetrable and inaccessible. And just as hostile. God offers protection to all who claim sanctuary. And men erect walls to keep them safe.
No stirring from within. I sigh. Not unexpected. “Knock again,” I command the guard. “Let them know their visitors will not leave.”
The waning October afternoon trickles shadows into the well of the courtyard. I pull my cloak closer, thankful I had chosen my finest weave to keep the warmth in and the damp out. The sun had shone golden when we rode out from London, but upon reaching Westminster we collided with the rain clouds streaming in from the west.
Fallen mulberry leaves clog the stone steps rising before me, rotting unswept in the hollows. Someone isn’t taking care of the abbot’s house. It is clear that no one has left nor entered for a while. The guard’s hammering is unanswered, and yet to the right of the door a candle flame glimmers through a browed window and a shadow flits elusively.
I push back my hood, and a spatter of rain needles my face. Here, gatekeeper. Here's reassurance I bear your fugitive no threat. I am of middling age, graceful, fair of face, my countenance pleasing, I’ve heard say. Hardly a threat.
The
rain unfurls in sheets. I raise my voice. “I am not asking the queen to break
sanctuary.” God knows the wretched woman would make it easier on all of us if
she did. I motion the guard aside and edge up the slippery steps to the door.
“I am here to join her.”
Elizabeth
St.John’s critically acclaimed historical fiction novels tell the stories of
her ancestors: extraordinary women whose intriguing kinship with England's
kings and queens brings an intimately unique perspective to Medieval, Tudor,
and Stuart times.
Inspired by family archives and residences from Lydiard Park to the Tower of London, Elizabeth spends much of her time exploring ancestral portraits, diaries, and lost gardens. And encountering the occasional ghost. But that’s another story.
Living between California, England, and the past, Elizabeth is the International Ambassador for The Friends of Lydiard Park, an English charity dedicated to conserving and enhancing this beautiful centuries-old country house and park. As a curator for The Lydiard Archives, she is constantly looking for an undiscovered treasure to inspire her next novel.
Elizabeth's books include her trilogy, The Lydiard Chronicles, set in 17th Century England during the Civil War, and her newest release, The Godmother's Secret, which explores the medieval mystery of the missing Princes in the Tower of London.
Website: http://www.elizabethjstjohn.com/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ElizStJohn
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethJStJohn
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethjstjohn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethjstjohn/
Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/elizabeth-st-john
Amazon Author Page: https://geni.us/AmazonElizabethStJohn
Goodreads: https://geni.us/GoodreadsElizStJohn
Thanks so much for hosting Elizabeth St.John with The Lady of the Tower today, Mary Ann.
ReplyDeleteCathie xoxo
The Coffee Pot Book Club
My pleasure.
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