The Tudor Secret by C. W. Gortner ISBN: 9781429993180
Series: The Spymaster Chronicles #1
Published by St. Martin's Publishing Group on January 1, 2011
Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Pages: 327
Format: Audiobook
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The era of the Tudors was one of danger, intrigue, conspiracy, and, above all, spies.
Summer 1553: A time of danger and deceit. Brendan Prescott, an orphan, is reared in the household of the powerful Dudley family. Brought to court, Prescott finds himself sent on an illicit mission to the king's brilliant but enigmatic sister, Princess Elizabeth. But Brendan is soon compelled to work as a double agent by Elizabeth's protector, William Cecil, who promises in exchange to help him unravel the secret of his own mysterious past.
A dark plot swirls around Elizabeth's quest to unravel the truth about the ominous disappearance of her seriously ill brother, King Edward VI. With only a bold stable boy and an audacious lady-in-waiting at his side, Brendan plunges into a ruthless gambit of half-truths, lies, and murder. Filled with the intrigue and pageantry of Tudor England, C. W. Gortner's The Tudor Secret is the first book in The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles.
After I played and posted by Labyrinth TBR for April, I realized that I grabbed this, an historical fiction, when my genre prompt was fantasy. Ah, well! I regret nothing.
I listened to The Tudor Secret on audiobook, and the narrator did an excellent job. I do have a beef with the sound designer, though, because when the narrator whispered, the volume did not stay the same at all. Thus I kept having to back it up 15 seconds, crank the knob, and blast my ears out just to know what was confided.
But, in terms of the book, it was a good, fun romp. The author clearly knows his history, and the afterword lays out the facts from the fictions. Our everyman MC finds himself embroiled in court intrigue, spies, and political machinations, despite being a lowly stable lad. He’s got more true of a moral compass than those in power (seems legit) so it’s easy to be charmed by him…even though, as his dogsbody claims, he really couldn’t survive on his own.
We get all sorts of side characters, most of which were real historical figures. The whole story takes place over maybe a month in the 1550s, during the crisis of succession after Henry VIII’s son, Edward, dies of illness. Or “illness”, if you like. That’s what led up to Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Mary I, vying for the throne, and poor Jane Grey’s 9-day reign. I found the portrayal of both women to be fascinating, though I’ll always, always enjoy a spymaster character best.
It turns out the story is a trilogy, which is good because there are some loose threads at the end there. And because I’d love to see Brendan and Catherine play happy families (Catherine deserves more air time).
To position expectations correctly, though, this is not a heavy historical fiction. There are some story cheats and deus ex machina moments. I didn’t feel that they detracted from the plot, but I’d call this a lighter hist fic.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- Labyrinth TBR
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