A Secret Alchemy
Published on 7. January 2010
512 pages
978-0-7553-7249-2 (ISBN)
Description
Two murdered princes; a powerful queen betrayed; a nobleman riding towards his certain death...
The story of the Princes in the Tower has been one of the most fascinating - and most brutal - murder mysteries in history for more than five hundred years.
In a brilliant feat of historical daring, Emma Darwin has recreated the terrible, exhilarating world of the two youngest victims of the War of the Roses: the power struggles and passion that lay behind their birth, the danger into which they fell, the profoundly moving days before their imprisonment, and the ultimate betrayal of their innocence.
In A Secret Alchemy, three voices speak: that of Elizabeth Woodville, the beautiful widow of King Edward IV; of her brother Anthony, surrogate father to the doomed Prince Edward and his brother Dickon; and that of present-day historian Una Pryor. Orphaned, and herself brought up in a family where secrets and rivalries threaten her world, Una's experience of tragedy, betrayal and lost love help her unlock the long-buried secrets that led to the princes' deaths.
Weaving their stories together, Emma Darwin brilliantly evokes how the violence and glamour of past ages live on within our present.
The story of the Princes in the Tower has been one of the most fascinating - and most brutal - murder mysteries in history for more than five hundred years.
In a brilliant feat of historical daring, Emma Darwin has recreated the terrible, exhilarating world of the two youngest victims of the War of the Roses: the power struggles and passion that lay behind their birth, the danger into which they fell, the profoundly moving days before their imprisonment, and the ultimate betrayal of their innocence.
In A Secret Alchemy, three voices speak: that of Elizabeth Woodville, the beautiful widow of King Edward IV; of her brother Anthony, surrogate father to the doomed Prince Edward and his brother Dickon; and that of present-day historian Una Pryor. Orphaned, and herself brought up in a family where secrets and rivalries threaten her world, Una's experience of tragedy, betrayal and lost love help her unlock the long-buried secrets that led to the princes' deaths.
Weaving their stories together, Emma Darwin brilliantly evokes how the violence and glamour of past ages live on within our present.
More details
Edition
Digital original
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Headline Publishing Group
Edition type
Digital original
Illustrations
None
File size
1,68 MB
ISBN-13
978-0-7553-7249-2 (9780755372492)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Emma Darwin was born in 1964 and brought up in London, Manhattan and Brussels. Her first novel, The Mathematics of Love, was widely acclaimed; A Secret Alchemy is her second.
