This Tangled Skein, The Elizabethan Dilemma

By Karen Rees

Description:

March 1572. Having lost her family to the pestilence, Anne Marie duChant leaves France for England to escape an unwanted marriage and reunite with relatives. As she departs Rouen, Huguenot friends are eagerly awaiting the August wedding of Protestant King Henry of Navarre and Catholic Princess Marguerite, ending France's religious wars.

She arrives in an England rife with its own religious tensions. Any day, Catholics could overthrow excommunicated Queen Elizabeth in favor of her cousin Mary, while Puritans are demanding a stricter religious policy than Elizabeth will allow.

Anne Marie's somewhat impulsive nature and Anabaptist beliefs create tensions with London Calvinist relatives, and her presence threatens to expose a disturbing secret. Her troubles multiply when the man she has come to love is not the man courting her.

Why the author wrote this book:

The previous book in The Reformation - A Family Divided trilogy ended with one member of the extended family being burned at the stake by Bloody Mary and others in exile in Europe to escape a similar fate. I wanted to bring those exiles home, give them a chance at a better future under Queen Elizabeth, and end the trilogy on a slightly happier note.