Too many thoughts, this one gets a bullet point review.

Liked:
👍 I appreciated that this was kind of dark academia from the professor side...getting a look into the weird, claustrophobic and insular world of the consortium was fascinating and I liked the tension between all these nerds and how shady everybody was. Like they said publish AND perish.
👍 The mystery aspect was fairly well done in terms of believably solving clues from the past.
👍 The ending of the historical timeline was a BANGER.
👍 Finding out at the end of the book that Elizabeth Barton was a real person was really fascinating and did send me down a little rabbit hole reading up on the Tudors, so that was fun.

Disliked:
👎🏻 The lack of resolution for the present-day timeline was actually unforgivable imo and has me staring at that four star rating wondering if I actually should knock one off because damn [follow-up: I did]. Insane work to make the (you can't spoiler tag NG reviews so I cut out my spoilery thoughts that I put on Goodreads).
👎🏻 Speaking of, (more spoilery thoughts I cut).
👎🏻 At a certain point the historical timeline became not just unnecessary, but actually gratuitous. Once Elizabeth was imprisoned that storyline did not advance in a meaningful way--since we knew from the beginning that Elizabeth would be executed, none of that was a surprise, and nothing happened during that time that made for any interesting revelations or changed our understanding of the situation. The torture scenes were genuinely too much, especially given that they didn't add anything to the narrative. It was miserable, we get it. Geez.
👎🏻 Ultimately I was just left with too many questions about character motivations to find this truly satisfying, which is annoying bc there was a lot of good stuff here. Hmph.

This debut novel is both captivating and enlightening. Before picking it up, I’d never heard of Elizabeth Barton; now I feel genuinely enriched by her remarkable story and the history surrounding her. The author’s dual-timeline narrative is expertly woven—each period illuminating the other—so the plot never loses momentum while delivering plenty of well-researched detail. Informative without ever feeling heavy-handed, the book combines vivid characterization with a historian’s eye for accuracy. An impressive first effort; I look forward to whatever Ms. Brown writes next.

Interesting mystery based on a true story - those are always good reads as this one is! Set around Henry VIII, we are treated to a story about the Maid of Kent, Elizabeth Barton, as well as mystery around a “lost book” supposedly found in 2023. Seven scholars gather at the Vale House which abuts onto the priory where the Maid resided. Alison is a medieval scholar searching to unravel the mystery surrounding the Maid. However, a murder changed a lot. Enjoyed the read. I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read this ARC.

For the most part this book was OK. But, most of it fell flat for me. I was expecting more out of this one.
In some places there was too much repetitiveness and descriptions.
However; I did love the historical aspects of it and the people of that time.
I did finish it because I hate to DNF a book.
The part I did love was the one about Elizabeth Barton. I found that interesting.
4 stars from me for this one.
My thanks for a copy of this book. I was NOT required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine.

This is an excellent book that I couldn't put down. There are two time lines, one in the 1500's and the other in the present. Both center around the mystery of Elizabeth Barton, a real person known as the Holy Maid of Kent, whose was believed by some prominent men to have the gift of prophesy. Most people in Elizabeth's time were Catholic, but this was a dangerous time for Catholics. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his barren wife because he needed an heir. To accomplish this, he separated the Church of England from the Pope's authority, and was thorough in squashing dissent. The common people believed in Elizabeth's prophecies which was a problem for Henry, since her prophesies did not favor him.

Fast forward to the present where a group of historians visit a manor where they plan to spend time on their various projects. It is an honor to be invited, and Alison Sage was invited because she had recently found a rare copy of the book of Elizabeth's prophecies. The manor house also near to where Elizabeth Barton had lived, another bonus for Alison. The book took an unexpected turn near the end. I never saw that coming.

I received an e-arc from the publisher St. Martin's Press via NetGalley, and voluntarily read and reviewed it.

I’ received an ARC on netgalley for an honest review and I am happy to say I really enjoyed this one! I think the dual timeline structure is great because we get to see the impact and parallels to modern life. Even if it’s just treading the in the footsteps of those characters. Just 2 months off a trip to the Tower of London I felt the impact of going through traitor’s gate and how that must have been knowing you may not be coming out again.

I knew nothing of Elizabeth Barton before reading this historical fiction. The Mad Maid of Kent, as she was known, anchors a story that manages to deftly connect 16th-century England with a medieval scholar placed firmly in the present. I love this style of storytelling, and Jennifer Brown pulls it off with skill. There are echoes of universality across the years and foreshadowing that kept me guessing until the very last pages. The book feels well researched and is full of colorful details that bring both the Mad Maid and her modern protagonist to life. While there were a few storylines that I wish we'd gotten an update on before the book closed, I appreciate that that's not how history works. As someone who reads a fair amount of books about the Tudors, in particular Henry VIII, I loved this new look at this period in history.

I really enjoyed this book! It has both a modern and historical perspective/story, and is a really interesting murder mystery! I personally am really interested in the Tudor period, and the Catholic church of the time. I had heard of Elizabeth Barton, but I really liked how this story focused on a historical person that is less well known maybe, as some of the others of her time and around the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Definitely would recommend, especially if you are interested in history!

The best part of this book, for me, was the very last page!...just what I was waiting for! Nope, no spoilers here, but that last page made the book worth the read. Honestly, I found the story a tad tedious, until, finally, the priest hole was used...(not revealing it here, you'll have to read the book), then it was a fast rollercoaster ride to the end. I adore anything about King Henry the Eighth and the story of Elizabeth Barton, the seer and prophet of the time, is fascinating, and true. The authors' notes are fantastic when it comes to her research. She notes "many of the facts related to Elizabeth Barton in this book are true". The chapters on Elizabeth Barton are fascinating, and I loved them! The story I found a bit weak, and I do try to love every single book I read, because writers put so much hard work into their works, yet this story was just a tad weak.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a e-ARC of this novel.

This was fantastic if you like a slow burn historical mystery/thriller. I was 50% into the novel when I remembered that the book wasn't just historical- that it contained a mystery as well. At that point things really took off. The writing was wonderful- it very clearly was well researched.

I absolutely loved the dual timeline of Alison finding the prophecies and 16th century England turned murder mystery. It helps to serve a link between modern day murder mystery and the court intrigue, betrayals, murder, plots, etc.

An absolute marvel of a story. It tells the story of The Maid of Kent (Elizabeth Barton) and with a dual timeline a historian who finds the "lost book" of Elizabeth. The author does a great job in keeping the historical facts about Elizabeth while humanizing the circus of events that surrounded her claims of visions. The more modern story becomes a treasure hunting/murder mystery as only the English can do. Although I had my suspicions of one of the characters very early on (and I was right!) - the story was interesting and exciting from start to finish. The only thing that kept it from being 5 stars for me was the quick conclusion - I would have liked to see how the outcome of the story affected her life. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Oh man - this had ALL the ingredients I love, but it didn’t quite work for me. Dual timelines, and Tudor England seemed tailor made. Unfortunately, the pacing felt very off. The beginning drew me in, but there was a real lag for the rest of the book until closer to the end. The ending was also quite obvious and telegraphed throughout.

Still fun to read about Tudor England, but I was disappointed.

I always enjoy learning more about the Tudor lives, and I did not know much about Elizabeth Barton before I read this book. It was written in a dual timeline, with the story of Elizabeth Barton being told next to the story of Professor Alison Sage, who is an expert in the time period and finds this lost manuscript at the start of the novel. The dual timelines worked well together; I liked to learn the story of Elizabeth from her point of view, which is partly historical and partly filled in by the author according to what she knows from the time period. The story of Dr. Sage is also interesting and combines intrigue, murder, and treasure hunting as part of its storyline.

I was surprised by some of these elements, such as the mystery and murder, but they did not detract in any way from the storyline; in fact, they made it more interesting. In books such as these, I always look forward to reading about how the author did their research and the sources they used to substantiate it, and sadly, there was not a lot of that in this book. I think it would be helpful for the author to include this information in another version of the book, for the history buffs like me. I also would have liked to know more about how Alison's story ended; it seemed like the mystery got cleared up, and then we heard no more from her; there was no real resolution to her "relationship" with Wes or how this affected her and her research, and her life. These are reasons this book got 4 stars from me instead of 4.5 or even 5. I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N. Brown is an entertaining dual timeline historical fiction that I enjoyed.

When I chose this novel, I did not know that it wasa dual timeline which I have come to try to avoid after reading far too many similar novels in the past, but I still went with it. I could have done without the current day thread, it was fine, but I wanted to get to the history…

That being said, I already knew about Elizabeth Barton from reading a lot on the Tudor era and the monarchy that were associated with said era. It was fascinating to read more about her and have her be the focus of novel. I guess I never really wondered that there could be more going on with the story, and that there could be more strings attached then just a woman who was part of the Holy Order that was a voice that spoke up against the Henry VIII drama that involved Anne Boleyn.


4/5 stars

Thank you NG and St Martins Press for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 4/14/26

Both timelines had an interesting story that hooked me right away. There were a few times that the author's word choice took me out of the story for a moment (does a character this age really use "ew" in a sentence?), but overall the prose was good and fit the story well enough. I also felt that the pacing of the current-day timeline dragged in the first half of the book and then rushed through the second half in order to keep in line with the historical timeline. Overall enjoyable read that kept me engaged and open to reading more from the author. 3.75 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book!

A dual timeline historical fiction novel with a murder mystery. It was really interesting reading about this time in history. I enjoy historical fiction novels, but most are about WWI/WWII so this was a breathe of fresh air for me to learn more about the Tudor/Reformation era!

Highly recommended.

The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton is a duel time line work of historical fiction . I am interested in any book that takes place during the Tudor era. I especially enjoy stories that are about characters other than the usual suspects. Elizabeth Barton … the maid of Kent… was a young woman who claimed she had visions from God regarding the marriage of Henry the VIII and Anne Boylen. The story portrays a young woman caught up in the frenzy that is both manipulated and used by the clergy trying to stop England’s division from the Catholic Church.
The modern story is about a women Allison, a historian that has found the lost book of Elizabeth Barton. This story becomes a typical English closed door mystery. This part of the story was a little less successful for me.
Thanks to net galley for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book was a pleasant surprise.