Unicorn's Blood
Using some of the same real and imagined characters that appeared in Firedrake's Eye (St. Martin's, 1992) but standing totally on its own, Finney's latest work is another superior novel of intrigue during the reign of Elizabeth I of England. This time the plot revolves around a long-lost diary that the queen kept as a young woman, which not only contains her will naming Mary Queen of Scots her heir but also reveals a liaison with Thomas Seymour that ended in an aborted pregnancy. Now Mary is imprisoned and Elizabeth is daily being hounded by her advisors to order her execution. If the diary, embossed with a unicorn on the cover, can be found, these men will have additional ammunition to persuade Elizabeth that Mary must die in order to prevent the succession of a Catholic to the English throne. Finney, who studied history at Oxford, effectively re-creates Elizabethan England, describing its bawdy, colorful, and cruel aspects with a sure hand. Essential for public libraries.?Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, SeattleCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.