After 17 years locked in a tower for a crime she swears she didn't commit, Queen Merewyn might finally be released. She hopes that a visit by Nina, the queen of a neighboring country, will give her a chance for freedom, and a chance to help her son, Crown Prince Maxen, negotiate the treacherous waters of court politics. Nina's court sorceress, Daryna, however, resents the fact that Nina is focused on Merewyn's troubles, rather than concentrating on getting help from Merewyn's husband, King Ethelred, in modernizing their country. Meanwhile, Merewyn's jailer and old friend, Duke Brandon, rushes to prepare his castle for the royal visit, knowing this may be his last chance to get the king and queen to reconcile. Initially excited when Ethelred finally allows her to attend the festivities, Merewyn begins to worry that some of the guests are plotting against her. Still locked in her tower, she prepares for the grand welcome feast and her first night of freedom in years, but every day brings ominous hints of a sinister conspiracy that might include the visitors, the church, her husband, and possibly even her beloved son.

‘A fascinating portrait of the women who helped make a dynasty’ The Times ‘Bewitching’ Woman & Home ‘Evocative’ Woman’s Weekly

The visitor's companion to the palaces, castles & houses associated with Henry VIII's infamous wife.

Shamus Award–winning author Michael Sears brings Queens, New York, to literary life in this crime series debut featuring a somewhat seedy lawyer with a heart of gold (or at least gold plate). Queens, New York—the most diverse place on earth. Native son Ted Molloy knows these streets like the back of his hand. Ted was once a high-powered Manhattan lawyer, but after a spectacular fall from grace, he has found himself back on his home turf, scraping by as a foreclosure profiteer. It’s a grubby business, but a safe one—until Ted’s case sourcer, a mostly reformed small-time conman named Richie Rubiano, turns up murdered shortly after tipping Ted off to an improbably lucrative lead. With Richie’s widow on his back and shadows of the past popping up at every turn, Ted realizes he’s gotten himself embroiled in a murder investigation. His quest for the truth will take him all over Queens, plunging him into the machinations of greedy developers, mobsters, enraged activists, old litigator foes and old-school New York City operators.

This book reveals the stories, events and colourful characters that make up the Tower of London's long and varied history, from its Roman origins to the present day.

One of history’s most complex and alluring women comes to life in this classic novel by the legendary Jean Plaidy. Young Anne Boleyn was not beautiful but she was irresistible, capturing the hearts of kings and commoners alike. Daughter of an ambitious country lord, Anne was sent to France to learn sophistication, and then to court to marry well and raise the family’s fortunes. She soon surpassed even their greatest expectations. Although his queen was loving and loyal, King Henry VIII swore he would put her aside and make Anne his wife. And so he did, though the divorce would tear apart the English church and inflict religious turmoil and bloodshed on his people for generations to come. Loathed by the English people, who called her “the King’s Great Whore,” Anne Boleyn was soon caught in the trap of her own ambition. Political rivals surrounded her at court and, when she failed to produce a much-desired male heir, they closed in, preying on the king’s well-known insecurity and volatile temper. Wrongfully accused of adultery and incest, Anne found herself imprisoned in the Tower of London, where she was at the mercy of her husband and of her enemies.

Nearly five hundred years after her violent death, Anne Boleyn, second wife to Henry VIII, remains one of the world's most fascinating, controversial, and tragic heroines. Now acclaimed historian and bestselling author Alison Weir has drawn on myriad sources from the Tudor era to give us the first book that examines, in unprecedented depth, the gripping, dark, and chilling story of Anne Boleyn's final days. The tempestuous love affair between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn scandalized Christendom and altered forever the religious landscape of England. Anne's ascent from private gentlewoman to queen was astonishing, but equally compelling was her shockingly swift downfall. Charged with high treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London in May 1536, Anne met her terrible end all the while protesting her innocence. There remains, however, much mystery surrounding the queen's arrest and the events leading up to it: Were charges against her fabricated because she stood in the way of Henry VIII making a third marriage and siring an heir, or was she the victim of a more complex plot fueled by court politics and deadly rivalry? The Lady in the Tower examines in engrossing detail the motives and intrigues of those who helped to seal the queen's fate. Weir unravels the tragic tale of Anne's fall, from her miscarriage of the son who would have saved her to the horrors of her incarceration and that final, dramatic scene on the scaffold. What emerges is an extraordinary portrayal of a woman of great courage whose enemies were bent on utterly destroying her, and who was tested to the extreme by the terrible plight in which she found herself. Richly researched and utterly captivating, The Lady in the Tower presents the full array of evidence of Anne Boleyn's guilt—or innocence. Only in Alison Weir's capable hands can readers learn the truth about the fate of one of the most influential and important women in English history. BONUS: This edition contains a The Lady in the Tower discussion guide and an excerpt from Alison Weir's Mary Boleyn.