The year is 1539 and the court of Henry VIII is increasingly fearful at the moods of the ageing sick king. With only a baby in the cradle for an heir, Henry has to take another wife and the dangerous prize of the crown of England is won by Anne of Cleves.

She has her own good reasons for agreeing to marry a man old enough to be her father, in a country where to her both language and habits are foreign.

Although fascinated by the glamour of her new surroundings, she senses a trap closing around her. Katherine is confident that she can follow in the steps of her cousin Anne Boleyn to dazzle her way to the throne but her kinswoman Jane Boleyn, haunted by the past, knows that Anne’s path led to Tower Green and to an adulterer’s death.

The story of these three young women, trying to make their own way through the most volatile court in Europe at a time of religious upheaval and political uncertainty, is Philippa Gregory’s most compelling novel yet.

菲利帕· 格里高利是一位全职作者及电台、电视台主持人，拥有爱丁堡大学十八世纪文学研究博士学位，尤其偏爱创作以都铎王朝及16世纪英国为背景的小说，被称作“历史小说女王”。作品《另一个波琳家的女孩》发行全球26个国家，仅在英国就发行量破百万。后被好莱坞搬上银幕，由斯嘉丽· 约翰逊、娜塔莉· 波特曼以及艾瑞克· 巴纳等明星担纲主演。菲利帕· 格里高利的历史小说系列仍在不断更新中，每有新作面世便长期占据美英各大畅销书榜单前位，受到读者广泛好评。