|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Ursula Blanchard has joined Queen Elizabeth's Ladies of the Presence Chamber. This position only offers a small salary, although it will provide her with a place to live and enough money to ensure her daughter is cared for. Queen Elizabeth's court is full of rumors, deceptions and conspiracies. All of the Ladies of the Presence Chamber have rules they must follow if they want to keep their position. Having one of the Ladies caught in a compromising position does not reflect well on the Queen. Currently the court is more caught up with Queen Elizabeth's behavior with Robin Dudley, Master of Horse. Many presume that the couple is merely biding their time until Robin's wife dies. Amy Dudley is estranged from her husband and is concerned that he wants to kill her. Queen Elizabeth sends Ursula to stay with Amy in an attempt to reassure her. Amy is dying of what appears to be cancer and is very ill. Having extra help will be beneficial to the household assuming Ursula can convince Amy that no one wants her dead. This proves to be inaccurate and Amy is killed. Ursula refuses to allow the world to believe that the Queen was involved with this murder. To this end, Ursula and her trusted servants must hunt down the murderer. TO SHIELD THE QUEEN is the first book in the Ursula Blanchard series. Therefore this book provides details about Ursula's previous life, how she ended up in Queen Elizabeth's Court and where her loyalties lie. TO SHIELD THE QUEEN also provides a glimpse of Ursula's thoughts, strengths and weaknesses. While Ursula does have a mystery to solve, the focus of this book is to make Ursula an appealing character whom the reader will want to follow through several books. The speculations about Queen Elizabeth's relationship with Robin Dudley continue to this day. The idea of a Queen remaining single and a virgin is not something many are willing to believe. TO SHIELD THE QUEEN presents the reader with a possible hypothesis of what happened between them. The popularity of this topic and Buckley's approach to this subject should encourage historical fiction fans to read this book.
Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, June 2006
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
