The Virgin Queen's Daughter - Ella March Chase

A sweeping historical debut exploring a thrilling possibility:
that the Tudor bloodline did not end with the Virgin Queen.As captivating now as it was more than four centuries ago, the reign of Elizabeth I-with its scandal, intrigue, and resilience-has sparked the imaginations of generations.

Tucked away in the country
estate of her beloved father, Lord Calverley, young Nell de Lacey feeds her hungry
mind with philosophy, language, and studies of science. Her mother, once a devoted
lady-in-waiting to Henry VIII's last wife, Katherine Parr, would rather her daughter
stop dabbling in the grand affairs of men and instead prepare for her eventual duties
as a wife. She knows all too well what menace lurks in royal courts.

But Nell's
heart yearns for something more, and a chance meeting with Princess Elizabeth, then
a prisoner of the Tower of London, pushes her closer toward finding it. Now, years
later, Nell's chance arrives when she is summoned to serve as a lady-in-waiting to
the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth. Nell is entranced by the splendor and pageantry
of royal life, unaware of the danger and deception that swirls around the monarch
and her courtiers.

But a lingering rumor about nine unaccounted for months in the
Virgin Queen's past reignites when the flame-haired Nell-a mirror image of Her Majesty
both physically and intellectually-arrives at court. Quickly she catches the eye
not only of the cunning Elizabeth, but of those who would see the queen fail. With
strong evidence to connect Elizabeth to her newest maid of honor and the politics
of England in turmoil, the truth could send Nell and those she loves to the Tower
to join in the wretched fates of those who've gone before her.

Engrossing and enlightening,
The Virgin Queen's Daughter brings to life one of the greatest mysteries of one of
the greatest monarchs. Ella March Chase's vivid storytelling gives due credence to
a daughter who might have been and a mother who never was.