The Virgin Queen's Daughter

Lady Calvary is horrified when her stubborn, inquisitive red-haired daughter, Nell, joins the royal court. In an intriguing twist by Chase, 16-year-old Nell is actually the illegitimate daughter of Queen Elizabeth I. Nell quickly learns that only her death can protect the crown. Will the queen kill her own child? English narrator Rosalyn Landor does an admirable job with young Nell, using a vibrant, energetic, higher-pitched voice to express her youth and na•veté. Male voices are a bit awkward early on, but Landor's narrative becomes more fluid with both genders in the second half. Older Nell's resolute, somber tone reflects her newfound maturity and sense of vulnerability. The venerable queen is impeccably narrated with crisp, blunt articulation and harsh tones that give listeners a palpable chill. A.R.H. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

September 29, 2008
Tudor intrigue inspires yet another historical romance in this story of a willful girl who discovers she is the Virgin Queen's illegitimate daughter. Five-year-old Elinor (Nell) de Lacey is the apple of her scholarly father's eye, and while the two are visiting the Tower of London, Nell makes a childish attempt to rescue Princess Elizabeth. By the time Nell turns 16, Elizabeth is queen, Nell's father is dead and Nell, over her mother's objections, heads to court. In short order, she's exposed to the court's conspiring and cajoling, seducing and betraying, plotting and protecting. A symbol of that world, Lady Jane Grey, haunts Nell as she uncovers the truth about her birth while trying to resist the charms of Sir Gabriel Wyatt. When Nell arouses Elizabeth's suspicions and possibly her wrath, Baroness de Lacey, once a lady-in-waiting herself, returns to court to prove the power of a mother's love. While Chase is no Philippa Gregory, her novel should still be manna for fans of Tudor romance infused with interludes of torture and head-rolling between the dance lessons and marriage rumors.