Heartsease — Ann Turner

An ordinary woman's struggle to cope in extraordinary places, surrounded by power, greed, danger and lust...

At only 16, Mary Hawke is married to the handsome Henry Crawford and goes to live with him in his Essex home. But her husband is a vicious brute who sees his innocent young wife as his property, to beat and abuse at his will. The appearance of a debonair Spaniard, old enough to be Mary's father, awakens within her a passionate nature.

A sudden twist of fate releases Mary from her violent marriage and she arrives at court as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catharine of Aragon. There, she befriends the young and vivacious Anne Boleyn. The handsome Spaniard re-enters her life, and Mary finds herself moving to an opulent life in Spain as his wife.

But life in Spain is dangerous and her new husband has a secret past. Arriving back in England, Mary returns to the court of King Henry VIII as Anne Boleyn's star is rising. While living there, she encounters Gregory, a reclusive lawyer. Together they witness, and are involved in, some of Tudor history's greatest moments. The book's thrilling climax involves Mary's brother Robert and a dangerous obsession that threatens to tear her family apart. The Tower waits silently for its next victim...

Heartsease is a gripping novel, inspired by Jean Plaidy, that emulates the novels of Philippa Gregory. It will appeal to fans of historical romance fiction, and those especially interested in the Tudor period.