The Crown

Meet Joanna Stafford, the protagonist of Nancy Bilyeau's debut novel The Crown (#168).  Joanna is a relative of Henry VIII, but from a disgraced branch of the family.  She's highly educated, stubborn and an independent thinker.  After a disasterous experience at court, Joanna has persuaded her father to dower her entrance as a novice to Dartford Priory, an enclosed Dominican convent at a time when Henry has already dissolved the minor abbeys, monasteries and priories in England.  Though her devotion is sincere, she's not your average novice.

The book opens when Joanna runs away from Dartford to be present at her favorite cousin's execution as a leader of the Catholic rebellion in the north.  She only means to observe and bear witness, but Joanna is caught up in events with repercussions to herself and her father when they find themselves imprisoned in The Tower of London.  Bishop Gardiner recruits Joanna to find a sacred relic rumored to be hidden at Dartford Priory - the crown of the title.  The price if she refuses?  Her father's torture and death.  Gardiner returns her to Dartford in the company of two Dominican friars displaced from their own abbey to search for the crown.  But violent death visits the Priory and it is up to Joanna to uncover the real murderer before politics destroys Dartford.

Wheels within wheels keep you guessing throughout the book.  Ancient secrets play an important role here, too, in the quest for power, and the destruction of a whole way of life.  Thank you Ms. Bilyeau, for not going with the easy ending to this book, and keeping Joanna's character and integrity intact.  This is a wonderful book, and I hope to see many more works of comparable quality in the future from Ms. Bilyeau.

One note, here, since relics do play a large part in this story.  I was struck by the synchronicity of having just read An Irreverent Curiosity a couple of weeks ago.  It was an excellent primer for this book, and I noticed one of the sources Mr. Farley used cited in Ms. Bilyeau's bibliography.  Oh, and that's another plus for this book: the author provides a very interesting bibiliography of source material in case you want to read more in depth.  Tudor lovers, rejoice!