Roses Have Thorns: A Novel of Elizabeth I
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15
Ratings3
Average rating4
From the acclaimed author of To Die For comes a stirring novel told through a groundbreaking point of view that sheds light on Elizabeth I and her court. In 1565, seventeen-year-old Elin von Snakenborg leaves Sweden on a treacherous journey to England. Her fiancé has fallen in love with her sister and her dowry money has been gambled away, but ahead of her lies an adventure that will take her to the dizzying heights of Tudor power. Transformed through marriage into Helena, the Marchioness of Northampton, she becomes the highest-ranking woman in Elizabeth’s circle. But in a court that is surrounded by Catholic enemies who plot the queen’s downfall, Helena is forced to choose between her unyielding monarch and the husband she’s not sure she can trust—a choice that will provoke catastrophic consequences. A rich, tautly woven tale of love, deception, and grace, Roses Have Thorns vividly conjures the years leading up to the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots and is a brilliant exploration of treason, both to the realm and to the heart.
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3 primary books5 released booksLadies in Waiting is a 5-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2010 with contributions by Sandra Byrd and Emma Wildes.
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An incredible historical tale. A keeper shelf book. Gorgeous covers that keep the pages turning. Each of these statements is something true in describing this historical Ladies in Waiting series from Sandra Byrd. To Die For was captivating beginning to end in a story of Anne Boleyn's Meg Wyatt. The Secret Keeper was a beautiful story that kept the pages turning of Kateryn Parr's Juliana St. John. Roses Have Thorns is a different and yet enchanting tale that branches the expanse of the sea between Sweden and England to share Elizabeth I's Elin von Snakenborg or Helena's tale. This one was especially enchanting for me as I'm all the way up the line English bred and born (with a bunch of Scotland in me) and I married a man with a heritage of Sweden of which I am not all too familiar.
At first, I was unsure of what I thought of Elin, later Helena. She seemed to be a bit of a pushover in just blindly watching her sister's actions with her fiancé. But then I knew as she was leaving the shore that perhaps her life was meant to take another direction and that her inaction or nonresponse was no so much of being a pushover, but perhaps letting things happen as she didn't really want those circumstances anyhow.
posted: http://creativemadnessmama.com/blog/2013/04/17/roses-have-thorns-a-novel-of-elizabeth-i-by-sandra-byrd/
