New book set in the reign of Mary Queen of Scots

The Raven's Heart by Jesse Blackadder

I just received an email about a new book by an Australian author, Jesse Blackadder. The book is called ‘The Raven’s Heart: The story of a Quest, a Castle and Mary Queen of Scots’ and will be available in Australia in February 2011.

The Harper Collins description reads:

On a winter’s day in 1561, Alison Blackadder watches as a queen is rowed ashore in Edinburgh to claim her throne. Alison has been disguised as ‘Robert’ most of her life to protect her from the murderous clan who stole Blackadder Castle from her family. Now she must gain the favour of Mary Queen of Scots to have the castle restored to her father who is in perilous danger.

Queen Mary can trust nobody, not even her new husband Lord Darnley, and so Alison, with her ability to dress convincingly as a man when the situation requires, becomes the Queen’s valued spy.

Alison loves her queen almost enough to be distracted from her quest but then Mary betrays her unforgivably, and Alison’s renewed drive to reclaim the Blackadder birthright is relentless, setting off a chain of events that threatens to bring down the Scottish monarchy. Just as Mary can trust nobody, Alison discovers lies, danger and treachery at every turn. Then unexpectedly, she finds love …

Sounds like a very interesting read. I will have to add this to my long list of ‘to-read’ in 2011.

Here is a video of the author speaking about her book.

Fast Tube by Casper

To learn more about the author visit Jesse’s official site here.