The Queen's Handmaiden

A novel of the early years of Elizabeth Tudor, told by the spirited niece of her real-life governess. Eloise Rousell, daughter of a gentlewoman and a strolling player, lives her early years in peaceful obscurity — until her father dies and her stepfather wants nothing to do with her. She is sent to live with her aunt, Kat Ashley, governess to the young Princess Elizabeth.

In the tumultuous household of the princess in exile, Eloise finds her destiny as best friend, confidante, lady-in-waiting, and favored seamstress to the fiery girl who will become one of history's greatest monarchs. Through a decade of plots and counter-plots, tragedies and triumphs — spanning the years from Henry VIII's death to Elizabeth's ascension — Eloise risks her heart and her head in service to Elizabeth's cause.