I have just started reading historical fiction, and this one did not disappoint me ! A really intriguing and captivating story.
A good 3 star for me !

I want to thank Avon Books and NetGalley for an ARC of The Queen’s Spy!

I was intrigued by the premise of this book and liked the duel timelines and how the were interwoven even though the happened hundreds of years apart. It was an interesting choice for one of the main characters to be deaf and mute, but there were some questions I had around this decision. The author talked a lot of universal signs for things but sign language really wasn’t developed until the 1700s so I’m not sure many of the characters would understand signing.

One other issue I had with the plot was Mathilde having dreams about Tom’s life. They explained things from a couple of chapters before and it felt repetitive.

I would recommend this story to someone who is familiar with reading historical fiction and who is familiar with jumping to present day and then the past pretty frequently.

In the end, I gave this book 3.5 stars (rounding down to 3).

A sequel to The Secrets of Saffron Hall but you don't need to have read that to enjoy this. Written in the same dual timeline style as thw previous book it tells the story of Tom, an apothecary in the court of Elizabeth I and Mathilde, in current times, traumatised by her childhood.
I did think the romances in both times but especially the Tudor story were a little unrealistic but still enjoyed the book very much.

I didn’t realise this was a second book, but that fact does not unduly affect this story. Dual timelines are involved, Tom Lutton in January 1584 and 2021 with Mathilde and Lutton Hall.
Tom Lutton is an assistant to an apothecary. He is also deaf and mute, but this turns out to be an asset when Sir. Francis Walsingham takes notice of his particular skill set ie, the ability to lip read. Queen Elizabeth 1 is on the throne, but there are many who wish to see her Catholic cousin Mary, Queen of Scots take the throne as the only legitimate ruler. Elizabeth suffers from the stigma of bastardy and being unmarried, has no heirs to continue the Tudor line. Walsingham employs Tom to follow foreign spies in order to uncover and prevent these conspiracies, whilst those suspected of treason feel free to plot and plan as they are unaware of Toms lip reading skills.
Mathilde is a photo journalist , who leads a peripatetic lifestyle, living in a camper van, and has no family to speak of. She receives a letter from a solicitor asking her to make contact, with news of an inheritance. Her late father has left Lutton Hall to her, and she becomes aware of the fact she has a half sister, Rachel, Fleur, who is Rachel’s daughter, and an aunt and uncle. When Mathilde visits the Hall, from the word go, she finds she is sensitive to the auras and suggestions of a ghostly, benign presence, one who wants her to discover the truth about her newly acquired inheritance.
Whilst exploring the Hall, Mathilde discovers the chapel to the estate, and hidden behind panelling is a 400 year old tryptch. There are many secrets and discoveries to be made, but no spoilers now!!
This is a rather marvellous book, the sort where one more page, can turn into very late nights! I adore this period of history, but thanks to my Irish/ Catholic history teacher, I have always been more a follower of the Scottish Queen. I have read many books about the plots against both these Queens, but found myself very impressed by the usage of a disability as a positive step. Lip reading to catch traitors, why has this not be thought of before? Kudos to Clare Marchant, I shall use this book as a teaching text , in my SEN group lectures. The very fact that Mathilde has
dual heritage and her mother had suffered mental health issues, this is also a useful slant to a story. There is the underlying thread of wanting to belong, needing to connect to your history, and all these themes and issues are beautifully resolved.
I am definitely going to read the first book from this author, The Secrets of Saffron Hall, I am hoping to learn more of this intriguing back story.
I also live in Norfolk, and know it was quite a hot bed of spies and conspirators in these Tudor times.
I give this book five stars. I will use this as a teaching aid for my students. I am going to buy the first novel, and I will recommend this to my local library. I will leave reviews later. Thank you Harper Collins and Avon for my ARC, in exchange for my honest review.

'The Queen's Spy' is an enjoyable dual timeline novel with interesting characters. I liked the supernatural elements experienced by Mathilde in the present day when she found out that she'd inherited a gorgeous ancestral home, and reading about Tom in the Tudor court where every day was filled with risk and intrigue. I felt invested in both characters and enjoyed following their stories and finding out how they were linked. Excellently researched and beautifully written. 5 stars!

The Queen’s Spy, Clare Marchant

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

aaaand Women's fiction again. Why? Time to lose this genre.

Well, this was a fabulous read, one I was totally lost in, reading “ just one more chapter” til way too late....
I loved the past best, though enjoyed the present story too. I enjoyed how what seemed like two totally separate tales slowly began to meld.

Mathilde was such a defensive, prickly character, when Rachel was hoping for an open loving sister. Its hard though, one of them always knowing the other existed, whilst living an idyllic childhood, but poor Mathilde having spent her life thinking her dad was dead, and living as an itinerant. No fixed home, always being moved on, with a mum that's badly traumatised by the past, its no wonder she's so closed.
Slowly though Rachel, Fleur, Rachel's five year old, and the house begin to weave some magic around her and she starts to open up. Of course the delicious Art Historian Oliver helps too!


From the past there's Tom, what a wonderful character. Fled England as a child and now as an adult finds himself trying to take refuge here. Tom was taught herbal lore and remedies by his adoptive mother, and it stands him in good stead. His problems mean so many jobs just aren't available to him, but by chance he comes to the eye of Walsingham, and those make him the perfect spy for Elizabeth 1.
I so enjoyed this historical parts, the days to day issues, the remedies, the thread involving the vanilla plants that ran through the current day story too. Seeing Tom painting his triptych as his life unfolded was magical, and then finding it later and seeing Matty, Oliver and Rachel trying to find out the story was interesting. Art really does tell a tale and before photography was one of the only ways of recording events in a visual way.
There were some happy times and some tragic ones, along with a view of how little choice most folk had in their lives, how one moment you were secure and in favour, the next in prison, possibly facing the scaffold. Its an interesting period in history, one I'm reasonably familiar with and I really enjoyed seeing how the Babingdon plot may well have played out.

Stars: Five, A lovely tale, gentle romance but for me the magic was this historical side, and seeing how eventually Tom's story came to light.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

I love anything to do with Mary and Elizabeth and this didn’t fail to impress. I found it so easy to get into and was whisked away back to their era. Great read but a great author. Thankyou

Elizabeth I rules England. Her cousin Mary of Scots will do anything to claim the throne for herself. In a world of cunning, dark secrets a Queen must always be on guard. Queen Elizabeth has the most cunning of spies. One that will never be suspected or discovered. One who blends in perfectly.
A great story. Full of twists and turns.

I finished The Queen’s Spy after 10 long days of reading. Unfortunately, this book wasn’t for me— which was disappointing because I was super excited about it, especially because I love everything surrounding Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I.

Several things annoyed me. First, Mathilde’s sudden changes of heart at the beginning of the book. Sometimes she just suddenly changed her mind about things without any previous build up, not a hint, nothing. It hardly made sense.

Now let’s talk about the love interests. I had to roll my eyes at Oliver’s AND Isabel’s introductions. Everything was so obvious for the both of them. Mathilde meets Oliver, he says 5 sentences total and here is Mathilde, shocked to be "smiling" after his departure... When she’s known him for 25 minutes. It was not subtle at all and the problem remained all along the development of their relationship. It was the exact same thing with Isabel and Tom. They exchange 2 glances, she says 3 words to him and voilà. I don’t know, I can usually enjoy the soulmates / love at first sight trope, but in this case it was so obvious and superficial, it became irritating.

The writing repeatedly threw me off— both the syntax and punctuation seemed weird to me in several sentences. Some descriptions sounded tortuous and convoluted for no real reason, which made the reading process arduous. I can’t begin to count the amount of sentences that were 5-6 lines long without a single comma in sight... I also spotted Mathilde written as MathildA.

The pace was incredibly slow, mainly relying on descriptions of events and thoughts rather than action itself, which tends to bother me. 30% in, I realized absolutely nothing had happened. It took me a lifetime to get through. Once halfway through the book, it got slightly better but still not enough for me to be invested. Even the "investigation" on Mathilde’s side and the spy work on Tom’s weren’t really intriguing, and the ending was somehow anticlimactic.

I think this book had a lot of potential but it unfortunately failed to grab my interest.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC!

Vanilla and a triptych connect the generations in this wonderful tale. When photo journalist and herbalist,

Mathilde arrives in England to take possession of her family home in Norfolk, she finds many old treasures

which allows her to unravel her hidden past. Her ancestor was a spy for Queen Elizabeth, who had many

rare skills. including the ability to lip-read. She also meets her family and new bonds are forged.. This is an

emotional and thought-provoking story.,.With danger and forbidden romance, this book has it all. I loved it from

page one till the end.

Marchant writes with secure and detailed knowledge of Elizabethan England; her description of Elizabeth I’s court and the Babbington Plot is fluid and perfect for acclimating non-history buffs to the era.

However, the characters fell flat for me. Both protagonists react with little emotion to their difficult situations. Both romances also seem to materialize out of very few substantial interactions, making it difficult to sympathize with the story. The pace of the plot is also slow, though consistent.

Overall, this book is perfect for fans of Elizabethan England, parallel stories in different eras, and (sort of) second-chance romances.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. I will be posting this review to my blog and to my Goodreads account.

A deaf and mute Elizabethan male apothecary spies for the Queen!

Of all historical fiction, the Tudor period is my favourite. My vacations include traipsing all over England visiting castles and manor homes. I’ve even had a costumed dinner in a castle!

Everything during this time period is so volatile and precarious as the country’s religion changes with each successive monarch. Marchant was inspired by this intrigue and conspiracy, and it shows in her writing. She has penned an equally compelling dual timeline set in 1584 and 2021. I eagerly read to see how the timelines would fuse and was amazed at how Marchant pulled them together so effortlessly. She admits to being fascinated by connections and in a recent interview shared that “everything, every place and every person has a connection and it’s the interweaving of time, people and artefacts that inspire me.” I’m so excited that a new author to me can bring the Tudor period to life. Before finishing this book, I bought her backlist!

The key to this tale’s success is that Marchant wrote about her favourite era and set it in her home county. The passion is evident in her descriptions of the evocative landscape, the stately manors of Norfolk and the court of Elizabeth I.

You’ll love the clever presentation of the parallels between the main characters of each timeline. Although separated by 500 years, a shared experience binds them. Each character in this tale is useful in propelling the plot and that helps keep a taught story. The rich and multi-dimensional characters are well crafted.

Although this tale has heartbreaking moments, it’s primarily a historical fiction read with a splash of mystery. Uncovering the secrets of the past will propel you through this captivating story about a perilous mission, an unforgivable betrayal and a secret lost in time.

Publishes July 8, 2021

I was gifted this advance copy by Clare Marchant, Avon Books UK, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. If you love Tudor history than you will like this book. I really enjoyed it and it was a very unique story. I love Tom's character so much.. I would never have thought of writing a character that was mute and deaf. How the author used him to become a spy and help with the plot against Elizabeth I and Mary.

In her acknowledgements Clare Marchant describes The Queen’s Spy as ‘the difficult second novel’ – or words to that effect. Well she didn’t make it easy for herself, with an Elizabethan main character who is deaf and dumb and a modern day protagonist who is far from instantly likeable.

One of the triumphs of this book is how well the author pulls off both characters. We experience the Elizabethan world through Tom’s eyes, nose, hands… but not his ears. And despite this, it is a rich world indeed, brought vividly to life through the wonderful descriptive language. Despite the danger, intrigue and prejudice it was a world I wanted to return to again and again, which certainly kept me turning the pages.

Like all good dual timeline stories the links between present and past mirror each other well; both protagonists are outsiders, both gifted artistically and with herbs. There are other linking factors too, but to reveal them might spoil the story and I would hate to do that, because it is a book I would definitely recommend you read.

Review to appear in Frost magazine closer to publication day.

The Queen’s Spy is a story split between 1584 and 2021. England in 1584, Queen Elizabeth I in constant danger from plots to end her reign, replace her with Mary Queen of Scots and return England to Catholic Church. Queen Elizabeth has a strong group of spies protecting her and trying to stay a step ahead of Mary Queen of Scots. It is through them that Tom Lutton, a deaf mute employed as an assistant to the Queen’s apothecary finds what is considered to be his disability becomes his ability and is instrumental in ending the plot against Queen Elizabeth but not without consequences.
England in 2021, Mathilde traveling the world as a photo journalist. She has spent her early life moving from place to place with her mother. The tragic loss of her father left her mother in a constant state of depression and paranoia. Her mother died when Mathilde was a teenager leaving her to believing she has no family. A solicitor’s letter finds her and she travels to Lutton Hall where she learns she now has family and an ancestral home.
As she explores Lutton Hall, Mathilde finds a triptych that has been hidden for over 400 years. Unknown to Mathilde, the triptych was painted by Tom Lutton and tells the story of his life. The finding of the triptych brings in the art historian who becomes Mathilde’s love. As they continue to discover more about the triptych, she learns how her life and Tom’s are interwoven.
The Queen’s Spy was a very enjoyable read. I liked how Tom’s disabilities turned in to his ability to help the queen. I also liked the emphases Mathilde made about the silence when she was experiencing Tom’s life in her dreams.
I usually do not like novels that are split between two different characters. I get frustrated as I am following one character then feel yanked back to another character and time period. I did not feel this way with The Queen’s Spy. I did have a few times as Mathilde was dreaming of an event wondering about placement of dream because several different events would have occurred after the event she is experiencing.
I enjoyed The Queen’s Spy. I was aware of the plots against Queen Elizabeth but never put much thought into spies and how information was obtained and used. I enjoyed the historical content and basic information given in the spy scenes. I did feel it took a long time to get to the spy part and wish that I would have read “The Secrets of Saffron Hall” first. I would have liked more detail in the paranormal scenes and her aunt’s anger. I kept thinking there was more to the aunt’s issues besides the possibility of losing her home. I wanted the aunt to have experienced some of the shadows or strange events that Mathilde experienced. I kept hoping that Alice would talk about family history or why no one went into the chapel where the triptych was found but that is just my preference and always wanting to know more. . I’m hoping her next novels will be about generations in between Tom and Mathilde. I was hooked by the first chapter and highly recommend The Queen’s Spy. I have already started Clare Marchant’s first novel The Secrets of Saffron Hall.
Thank you to Avon books and NetGalley for allowing me early access to this book in return for a review.

This is my first time reading from this author and I absolutely love it! Such a compelling book which I enjoyed very much. I am usually not into the time skip timeline, which in this case was set both in the present and the past but I still enjoyed it very much.

I would definitely recommend this book to other readers who are into historical settings.

This is my first book by this author and I really enjoyed it. I will read more of her books. It is set in two different timelines and slowly the story unfolds.

I liked the fact that Tom made his way in a world while not being able to speak or hear. His journey was really interesting to read. Mathilde was in a lot of ways also someone who stood apart from the world and the people around her. Both characters were centuries apart but very similar in ways.

I recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this compelling novel by Clare Marchant. The Queen’s Spy has a dual timeline set in both 2021 and 1584. This is a concept that I really love, and immediately hooked me in. The book is vividly descriptive, painting pictures with words so that I could actually see the characters and get to know them.
When Mathilde inherits her family home, she discovers that the house holds many secrets, and finds herself drawn into the past by voices whose story must be told. As she delves deeper into history, the story begins to unfold.
In 1584, Tom had found himself a position as apothecary’s assistant at the court of Queen Elizabeth. Being deaf and dumb, he used sign language to communicate and this is soon picked up on by Sir Francis Walsingham, Spymaster to the Queen. Tom could be relied upon to keep secrets, and never tell, and he soon finds himself drawn into the dark web of power behind the scenes of the court.
As both the stories of Mathilde and Tom are revealed, I was captivated. What is the link that ties their stories together? This question had me gripped, and I couldn’t put the book down!
This is an intriguing story, beautifully written, that actually had me in tears at times. The plot is so well thought out, the story is very powerful, and the pace of the story kept me enthralled. The dual timeline is perfect, keeping me absorbed and captivated.
This book really caught my imagination, and carried me away. I loved the images of the court of Queen Elizabeth, and the spy network surrounding her. I was fascinated by the way the story played out, and loved the history that made lives link up, both in the present and the past. Highly recommended.

Mathilde is in the here and now . Lives in a campervan and travels the world as a journalist . She receives a letter and finds out she has family she never knew she had , and her father who she thought had died many years ago , has intact just died and has left Mathilde something in England.
In 1584 Tom who is deaf and mute has travelled to England to take up a position for Elizabeth 1 as a herbalist / apothecary / and soon to be spy.
I love these timeslip stories , and I now love The Queen's Spy as well. Clare Merchant brings the two stories together in a very clever way, and I particularly liked the way she described Tom's life and life in general in 1584 . If you love this type of book don't miss out of this one.

I wanted to love this story but I just could not get invested into the characters. The plot line moved too slow and I just didn’t connect with any part of it