The Zaharoff conspiracy - Toby Purser

A secret marriage, a lost memoir, a terrible injustice, and a 150-year-old tale of revenge

When Oxford historian Septimus Oates is handed a bundle of documents, including a certificate dated 1759 recording a secret marriage between the Prince of Wales, later King George III, and Hannah Lightfoot, a Quaker's daughter, he discovers the documents reveal the existence of a son, George Rex, the rightful heir to the throne, whose story is told in a long lost memoir. Witness to a brutal killing one June afternoon in 1914, Septimus flees Oxford only to find himself enmeshed in a web of deception, at the heart of which lies a burning desire for revenge by George Rex's descendants. Drawn further into the dark secrets and betrayals of 18th century England, Septimus discovers the horrifying truth which threatens to bring the legacy of George Rex's vengeance to a dreadful conclusion in the summer of 1914. From the quadrangles of Oxford to the mountains of Austria and Bohemia and the streets of Prague, Vienna, and Sarajevo, accompanied by his schoolmaster colleague Peddle and shadowy forces of the fledgling British Secret Intelligence Service, Septimus uncovers plans for an imminent assassination that could bring Europe—and the world—to the brink of war.