At the Mercy of the Queen
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A sweeping tale of sexual seduction and intrigue at the court of Henry VIII, At the Mercy of the Queen is a rich and dramatic debut historical about Madge Shelton, cousin and lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn. At the innocent age of fifteen, Lady Margaret Shelton arrives at the court of Henry VIII and quickly becomes the confidante of her cousin, Queen Anne Boleyn. But she soon finds herself drawn into the perilous web of Anne's ambition. Desperate to hold onto the king's waning affection, Anne schemes to have him take her guileless young cousin as mistress, ensuring her husband's new paramour will owe her loyalty to the queen. But Margaret has fallen deeply in love with a handsome young courtier. She is faced with a terrible dilemma: give herself to the king and betray the love of her life or refuse to become his mistress and jeopardize the life of the her cousin, Queen Anne. "A stunningly engrossing and fast read; historical fiction readers will snatch it up and shout, ‘Thank you!'"—Library Journal (starred review)
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Loved this book!! Instead of telling the story through the eyes of the Queen, Anne Boleyn, it instead follows her cousin, the lady Margaret Shelton. Madge finds herself in all sorts of situations as she helps the queen to regain her standing in the court and the love of her husband. It has all the ups and downs of life at court, and a little intrigue thrown in, as a very little used theory of the marriage of Anne and Henry is ut to use here.Madge herself finds love and although the ending left off in a little bit of a disappointment, the entire book was one that was hard to put down. I read it in two days, as I was hard pressed to stop to do anything else. As a history instructor, I thought it was well thought out and historically accurate in the majority of her details, although as a historical fiction, there is plenty of the artistic license thrown in, but not enough to dilute the hard facts that are there. This is a must read!
