The Cross and the Tower

This book is in excellent condition, very minor wear to corners of front cover, no wear to back cover. Minor pencil marking first inner page from previous owner. No other markings inner pages, spine intact no creases. "1586 was the year of an unbearably hot summer when treachery came to the fore. In this scintillating drama of betrayals, Jane Lane sketches the master of espionage, Francis Walsingham, in the bright, lurid colours of the deceit for which he was renowned. Anthony Babington and his fellow conspirators are also brought to life in this vivid, tense novel, which tells of how they were duped by Walsingham into betraying the ill-fated Mary, Queen of Scots, only to be hounded to their own awful destruction." Good Reads "Jane Lane (1905 – 1978) was the pen name of Elaine Kidner Dakers, an English historical novelist and biographer distantly related to the Jane Lane who aided Charles II after his defeat at Worcester. She is best known for her books about the Stuart period and 18th century Scotland, written from a Catholic and Royalist perspective. A State of Mind is unique among her books, being set in a dystopian future.

The Tablet described her as "one of the few contemporary writers who excel both as novelists and historians." Good Reads