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A Novel
Spark Press
June 2025
On Sale: May 27, 2025
344 pages
ISBN: 1684633109
EAN: 9781684633104
Kindle: B0DKB6726V
Paperback / e-Book
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Historical | Literature and Fiction Literary
For fans of Philippa Gregory, Alison Weir and Elizabeth Fremantle, an untold story about how the plot against Anne Boleyn entrapped a gifted young musician.
A glamorous queen, a volatile king, a gifted musician concealing a forbidden romance. Everyone knows Anne Boleyn’s story. No one knows Mark Smeaton’s.
On May 17, 1536, a young court musician was executed, accused of adultery and treason with the queen. Most historians believe both he and Anne Boleyn were innocent—victims of Henry VIII’s rage.
Mark Smeaton was a talented performer who rose from poverty to become a royal favorite. He played for the king in private and entertained at sumptuous feasts. He witnessed Anne Boleyn’s astonishing rise and fall—her reign of a thousand days. History tells us little about him, other than noting his confession and execution. The Queen’s Musician imagines his story, as seen from his perspective and that of the young woman who loves him. It all takes place amid the spectacle and danger of the Tudor court.
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