Book Review: The Tudor Secret

'The Tudor Secret'
Author: C.W. Gortner


Format: Paperback
Published: St. Martin's Griffin; Feb. 2011
Pages: 352
Genre: Historical fiction
Grade: B
Series: Book 1, The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles 
Source: Publisher


Synopsis: In 1553, England is a dangerous place to be. King Edward is on his deathbed. Vying for the crown are Elizabeth, her half sister Mary, and their cousin, Lady Jane Grey, who is manipulated by her powerful father-in-law. Into the midst of all this drama rides Brendan Prescott, a 20-year-old orphan raised by the servants at the Duke of Northumberland’s country home. Sent to court to serve the duke’s sons, one of his first tasks is to deliver a secret missive to Elizabeth. But Brendan is soon lured by Elizabeth’s protector, William Cecil, into working for Elizabeth instead, as Cecil promises to help Brendan decipher the mystery of his parentage. Amid crosses and double crosses, Brendan realizes he has to choose a side, for the issue of succession to the throne quickly becomes a matter of life and death—and not just for the potential monarch. An exciting, vividly rendered story of intrigue and espionage. 


My Take: For some reason I haven't read a historical fiction book in awhile and this one had been sitting in my TBR for quite some time. While I love historical fiction books, sometimes I get a little tired of books about the Royal Courts and the Tudors because its been a historical fiction trend for what seems like the last ten years and I wonder how much more of this I can read about. Also, and this may be me, I have a hard time keeping a lot of the characters straight because they all seem to have the same name! However, I shouldn't have worried about this one, perhaps I may have been bored with other books set around the Tudors, but The Tudor Secret was a real page turner and had me hooked almost from the beginning! 


The story centers around Brendan Prescott, a young man, an orphan, and recently brought to court to be a squire (which apparently means he serves as a Duke's right hand man). His arrival to court is during a precarious time in British history. Henry VIII's only son, King Edward VI is dying and there is a power struggle going on. The natural line of power would go to Princess Mary, Henry's eldest daughter, but she is Catholic and many people in England don't want to revert to that. So their is Henry's youngest daughter Princess Elizabeth, who many people in England support but she has the stigma of coming from Anne Boleyn. However, there are people within the court trying to ruin it all, the Duke of Northumberland being the main one, and gain power for themselves. Troubled times, my friends, troubled times.


So young Prescott comes to court in the middle of this to serve one of the Duke of Northumberland's sons, not knowing too much of the political atmosphere but he is a quick study and he might just jump ship and start supporting someone other than the Duke. There are secrets after all!


If I had any complaints, it would be this. In order to move the storyline forward, it was as if something totally insane and intense happened at every moment of every day. While great for a page turner, it did at times seem a little ridiculous to believe. I do like it when my historical fiction novels teach me something while entertaining me and I felt this entertained me more than it taught me. However, I kept flipping those pages and I am looking forward to reading more from this series!


Cover Lust: I like it when covers of people don't reveal their whole faces because I want to be able to imagine them so this one is nice. I think the dress and tone of it is perfect for the book.