Secrets of the Tudor Court Boxed Set

Introduction

Anne Bassett (Nan) is about to become one of Queen Jane Seymour’s maids of honor and has been taught for all of her sixteen years that this is the opportunity of a lifetime. She has no great dowry, but she is very beautiful. At the royal court she’ll have a chance to catch a wealthy and titled husband. Even the king has found wives among the maids of honor, first Anne Boleyn and then Jane Seymour, and Nan is encouraged when the king notices her. But the day after Nan wins her post at court, the queen and all her ladies go into seclusion. Jane is about to give birth to King Henry’s heir. When Queen Jane dies after birthing the future Edward VI, Nan’s hopes are dashed. She will not be able to catch anyone’s eye if she isn’t at court, and as long as there is no queen, there is no need for maids of honor. Uncertain of her future, she goes to live with her cousin Mary.

Nan is young and headstrong, but she knows the king will most likely make a foreign marriage and it may take years before there is a new queen. Even then, there is no guarantee Nan will still be wanted as a maid of honor. Visits from her stepfather’s servitor, Ned Corbett, bringing news from her family’s home in Calais, soon become the highlights of her days.

What begins as a simple rebellion—slipping out through the gate to see the sights of London with Ned—quickly grows more complicated. Combined with a conspiracy plotted against her family, Nan’s future at court becomes more and more unlikely.