The King’s Witch
In March of 1603, as she helps to nurse the dying Queen Elizabeth of England, Frances Gorges dreams of her parents’ country estate, where she has learned to use flowers and herbs to become a much-loved healer. She is happy to stay at home when King James of Scotland succeeds to the throne. His court may be shockingly decadent, but his intolerant Puritanism sees witchcraft in many of the old customs—punishable by death.But when her ambitious uncle forcibly brings Frances to the royal palace, she is a ready target for the twisted scheming of the Privy Seal, Lord Cecil. As a dark campaign to destroy both King and Parliament gathers pace, culminating in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, Frances is surrounded by danger, finding happiness only with the King’s precocious young daughter, and with Tom Wintour, the one courtier she feels she can trust. But is he all that he seems? Acclaimed as a brilliant historian, Tracy Borman proves with this thrilling debut novel that she is also a born storyteller.
The Devil’s Slave
At the end of The King’s Witch, the first book in Tracy Borman’s Stuart-era trilogy, Frances Gorges was pregnant with the child of her dead lover, Thomas Wintour, executed for his role as a conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Now, in The Devil’s Slave, Frances is compelled to return to the dissolute and dangerous court where she has been suspected of witchcraft. Catholics have gone underground in the new Puritan regime of King James I, and yet whispers of conspiracies continue to echo behind closed doors and down the halls of the royal palaces. Against this perilous backdrop, accompanied by her son George and her husband Sir Thomas Tyringham—whom she married conveniently to mask the true identity of her son’s father—Frances reunites with her former mistress, the Princess Elizabeth, now of marriageable age, as well as other less friendly members of the court: Prince Henry, heir to the crown who emulates his father’s brutality without scruple; Lord Cecil, eager to persecute Frances as a witch even as his own health rapidly declines; and King James himself, ever more paranoid and cruel towards alleged heretics and traitors. Yet a surprising ally emerges in the person of Sir Walter Raleigh, himself a prisoner in the Tower of London. With more lives than merely her own on the line, Frances soon finds herself caught in a spider’s web of secrets, promises, and plots.
Tracy Borman brings to life vivid characters from history, recreating the ever-treacherous court of the first Stuart king, and a historical period that has fascinated readers for centuries.
The Fallen Angel
Frances Gorges has happiness within her grasp. King James would rather be hunting stags with her beloved husband Thomas than chasing witches, which means her medical skills and herbal knowledge no longer hang over her like a death sentence. Her family is growing and their estates are secure.But a new arrival at court brings intrigue, jealousy and danger. George Villiers is a young man with the face of an angel and the cunning heart of a devil.Soon James is besotted by this charismatic new lover. Former favourites are crushed with scheming and lies. Thomas’s life is made a misery and Frances is back under suspicion as Villiers plots to marry her friend Katherine Manners and seize her fortune. Appalled at the courtier’s greed and the King’s weakness, Frances finds herself drawn back to her old friend Sir Walter Raleigh and his last, desperate plot to see a Catholic monarch on the throne. And then her troubles really begin . . .
My Take
I wasn’t sure what to expect from a historian’s first attempt at a novel, but I enjoyed these books. The attitudes toward women are as galling and enraging as expected. Frances walks a fine line (not always successfully) in practicing her healing gifts which she thinks are a gift from God and others think are the workings of the Devil. The historical elements feel real. The characters are emotionally muted given the time period, but still relatable. The third novel was the most engrossing book in the series. One of those where I was up until the wee hours to finish it. Mostly because I wanted to see whether one of the most villainous villains ever got what he deserved.