Elizabethan conundrums!
Treachery (Giordano Bruno #4) by S. J. Parris.
Caught up with intrigue, the Spanish question, the French and English monarchs, and his own troubles Italian "defrocked monk, excommunicated for heresy," and now spy, Giordano Bruno accompanies his friend Sir Philip Sidney, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth's to Plymouth where Sir Francis Drake's fleet is readying to set sail for the Spanish Main. It's 1585 and Drake is on the eve of departure. Ostensibly Sir Philip is to escort Dom Antonio, the pretender to the Portuguese throne, back to Elizabeth's court. In reality Sir Philip has decided to go against the Queen's wishes and join Drake on his great adventure.
That great voyage though has been brought to a halt. A man, "Master Robert Dunne, a gentleman of Devon," has apparently suicided on Drake's galleon. On closer inspection it appears that the suicide is actually a murder. A lose-lose situation for Drake. Sailors being a superstitious group will see the voyage as cursed before its begun, murder though will have men on a long voyage even more skittish, either decamping now or turning on each other on the endless voyage. Drake cannot afford to have his quandary bruited abroad. He cannot sail until the truth is known. And this is where Sir Philip decides to volunteer Bruno's expertise. Until recently Bruno's's been acting as a spy for Walsingham and the Privy Council whilst part of the French Ambassador Châteauneuf's cohort in London. At the moment his future is in doubt. Volunteered by Sir Philip, Bruno finds himself mired in plots and counterplots, including murder and stolen artifacts, not the least of which pertains to a forbidden religious book supposedly written by Judas Iscariot and stolen from the Vatican. Vatican agents will stop at nothing to retrieve this heretical work. Bruno becomes at once exhilarated and dismayed as he pursues his investigations.
The relationship between Philip and Bruno is interesting. Part comradeship, part benefactor, part older brother. I swerve between admiring their relationship and wondering why Bruno doesn't depart Sir Sidney's side.
Parris admirably captures the complexities and fears abroad during these times, painting a colorful picture of Elizabethan life.
A Pegasus Books ARC via NetGalley
****
That great voyage though has been brought to a halt. A man, "Master Robert Dunne, a gentleman of Devon," has apparently suicided on Drake's galleon. On closer inspection it appears that the suicide is actually a murder. A lose-lose situation for Drake. Sailors being a superstitious group will see the voyage as cursed before its begun, murder though will have men on a long voyage even more skittish, either decamping now or turning on each other on the endless voyage. Drake cannot afford to have his quandary bruited abroad. He cannot sail until the truth is known. And this is where Sir Philip decides to volunteer Bruno's expertise. Until recently Bruno's's been acting as a spy for Walsingham and the Privy Council whilst part of the French Ambassador Châteauneuf's cohort in London. At the moment his future is in doubt. Volunteered by Sir Philip, Bruno finds himself mired in plots and counterplots, including murder and stolen artifacts, not the least of which pertains to a forbidden religious book supposedly written by Judas Iscariot and stolen from the Vatican. Vatican agents will stop at nothing to retrieve this heretical work. Bruno becomes at once exhilarated and dismayed as he pursues his investigations.
The relationship between Philip and Bruno is interesting. Part comradeship, part benefactor, part older brother. I swerve between admiring their relationship and wondering why Bruno doesn't depart Sir Sidney's side.
Parris admirably captures the complexities and fears abroad during these times, painting a colorful picture of Elizabethan life.
A Pegasus Books ARC via NetGalley
****
Comments
Post a Comment