THE LARK
John Russell, son of an Archer in the Scots Guard of the King of France, is chosen as whipping-boy to the Dauphin, the sickly little prince betrothed to 17-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots. John’s sister Lark also joins the Court, to sing for Queen Catherine de Medici. In the turmoil of passionate religious persecution, personal hatred and jealousy among dukes and dwarfs, servants and soldiers, can John and Lark save themselves and their young queen?
I’d love to see this as a film; the Royal Court of France with La Belle Diane, and the Dauphin’s nasty habits, and the villain’s final come-uppance would be splendid. Anybody out there got a spare film studio?
An exciting trilogy about three crucial times in the life of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Each story is told by imaginary young people I slip into the actual historical facts. The Royal Courts and sleazy back streets of France, Scotland and London are as real as I could make them..
Each story is told by imaginary young people I slip into the actual historical facts. The Royal Courts and sleazy back streets of France, Scotland and London are as real as I could make them..
THE FALCON
Leezie Sinclair is a wild lass from the Borders, with a knife in her sleeve to protect herself from her violent stepfather. But her mother was nurse to Queen Mary as a baby, and is called to Edinburgh to nurse Mary’s baby son, James. Among the intrigue and treachery, murder and revenge, religious fury and greedy scheming surrounding Mary, among noblemen, preachers and ordinary folk, Leezie makes odd friends; the Master of the Queen’s Hawks, a Queen’s Messenger, and Kate Lenton, a magnificent black courtesan. They help her find herself, fulfil her dearest wish, and try to save Mary from her enemies.
American publishers won’t take it because it has a black woman in it, ‘and it could offend people.’ The fact that she is the strongest and most sensible character in the book, possibly my favourite character of any I’ve written, doesn’t seem to matter.
THE JACKDAW
Lark’s son Frank is employed by fanatical Protestant Sir Francis Walsingham to bring Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, to execution. But, joined by Kate’s daughter Susanna and young Jack Downie, the best thief in London, Frank first tries to save Jack’s family from brutal Ivory Sal and her vicious sons, and then to thwart Queen Elizabeth’s powerful spy-master. But will they succeed – and what will happen to them if they are discovered?
The story of the Babington Conspiracy, and who was really behind it. Thrills and danger for the three young friends, among the stinks and sounds, pageantry and misery of London in 1586. It was named in ‘The Week’ as someone’s best children’s book ever.
