Search results for ""author caroline newark""

It is 1474 and England is finally at peace after 25 years of internecine bloodshed where Yorkists and Lancastrians battled for the crown. On the throne sits Edward IV with his beautiful queen, Elizabeth Woodville, at his side. But past grudges have not been forgotten and beneath the intoxicating glamour of the royal court lies a secret with death trailing in its wake. Into this glorious summer of Yorkist rule comes Cecily, Lady Harington, a wealthy young heiress, married to Thomas Grey, eldest son of the queen's first marriage - "a nothing" in the words of Cecily's mother. William Hastings, Cecily's beloved stepfather, is the king's closest friend but he is also the queen's enemy. As the mystery surrounding her mother-in-law deepens and people start dying, Cecily attempts to uncover the truth but when chaos engulfs her family and the two young princes disappear into the Tower, she finds herself alone and in danger as those she loves and once trusted, prove false. The Woodville Conspiracy is a story of love and betrayal with at its heart a secret which will forever lie buried beneath the battlefield at Bosworth.

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1514. Henry VIII decides to marry his sister Mary to Louis XII, the elderly King of France. Accompanying Mary to her wedding is her cousin, seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Grey.Despite a magnificent reception in Abbeville, not everyone at the French court welcomes the English bride. Some, like Madame Louise, mother of Louis''s heir, would like to see Mary dead. But it is Louis who dies and Elizabeth who must twice put herself in danger to save her cousin. Just when all seems lost, Mary finds a path to personal happiness. But her choice comes at a price and it is not only Mary who must pay.From the menacing world of the French court and the glittering extravaganza of the Field of the Cloth of Gold to the tinder box that is Tudor Ireland, The Mirror of Naples is a story of the enduring power of love and the cost to a young woman of having what she wants.

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1453. England is in a state of turmoil and the Wars of the Roses are about to begin. On the throne sits Henry VI, a weak and unstable king married to a dangerously vindictive woman. Surrounding the royal couple are unscrupulous men whose apparent loyalty disguises their ambition and hunger for power. Far from the king's court, law and order is breaking down as advantages are sought and old scores are settled. In the North, the Percy brothers are conducting a private war against their Nevill cousins while in the South West, the Earl of Devon's son pursues his own deadly blood feud with the Bonville family. Caught in this maelstrom is Kathryn Nevill, young daughter of the Earl and Countess of Salisbury. One day while riding home she comes face to face with a shocking act of violence. Terrified by the threats to herself and her family she sees a means of escape when her father finds her a husband. But she quickly discovers that her new life in the West Country is steeped in its own particular brand of murderous savagery. The path to Kathryn's happiness is strewn with danger but with courage and determination she can fight her way through to achieve what she most desires - but the turning of Fortune's Wheel is never far away.

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