Unmasked

September 1, 2005
Trust is in short supply for both Elizabeth "Velvet" Cavendish and Robert "Graysteel" Montgomery. Betrothed to each other as children, they are close friends of Charles Stuart, the youth destined to become king. But Velvet is secretly infatuated with Charles, even after he and his court are exiled and Velvet's Royalist family loses their fortune. At 26, Graysteel is fighting the good fight for Charles, and eventually Charles is seated on the throne. Then, even though Velvet is still enamored of the monarch, she manages to find passion in Graysteel's possessive arms. From a smallpox epidemic to the royal court and on to the Restoration, Henley paints a picture of the unscrupulous politics as well as the glories of seventeenth-century England. But against this intricately detailed background, Velvet and Graysteel confront one misunderstanding after another until Henley cleverly convinces the reader that there is no future for this couple. But once again Henley has brought history to life--and another couple to true love.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)