Whitehall Episode 2: "Fierce Artifice"

“Where's a ‘Downton Abbey’ fan to go these days for serialized dozes of historical drama? Dear Reader, consider ‘Whitehall,’ wherein six gifted authors join their considerable talents to bringing Restoration England to glittering life. With each new installment, this grandly entertaining serial will tighten its hold on you. Irresistible! – Louis Bayard, author of The Pale Blue Eye and the Downton Abbey recaps on NYTimes.com

“An inlaid snuffbox of Restoration allures, subtle and lusty, exquisite and dangerous. Sometimes historical fiction can remain at a distance, coldly, but here the reader sinks right into the characters, barely aware of the gap of centuries. This is pure pleasure, and all the players you long to see are here – Lady Castlemaine (in bed), Pepys (endearingly middle-class), Rochester (characteristically ambiguous). I came for the prose, but I'll stay for the scheming. Clearly there's going to be a lot of it.” –Doris Egan, writer on TV’s Reign and House

“Richly detailed, with real-life historical characters who leap off the page, Whitehall is compulsively readable and thoroughly addictive.” – Megan Chance, author of Inamorata

“Whitehall's English King Charles II is the kind of Bad Boy we all want: a walking sex god with a heart of gold and a secret grief . . . and the women who love him are real people, who change and grow in a cascade of new experiences as the series progresses. In keeping with its time period, Whitehall is also full of laugh-aloud wit, worthy of the finest Restoration rakes. The writers have created a cast of characters, high and low, that I'm already in love with! Historical figures and made-up ones alike, I believe in all of them and can't wait to see what they'll do next. Fans of everything from Dorothy Dunnett to Hilary Mantel, The Borgias to Serial Box's own Tremontaine, will love this witty mix of sex, scandal and intrigue.” – Ellen Kushner, author of Swordspoint and creator of Tremontaine

“Whitehall sweeps the reader back to a time when the fate of kingdoms hung on royal subterfuge that was carried out as much within bedrooms as within the court. Rich period details, an intricate plot, and the emergence of an unlikely heroine besieged by spies, scandals, and enemies set out to destroy her, combine to create a captivating and suspenseful tale.” – Mark Tompkins, author of The Last Days of Magic

“Whitehall presents a reader with a compelling dilemma: the desire to linger in its rich reimagining of the Restoration set against the urge to turn the pages as quickly as possible and find out what happens next. The story fits perfectly for the serial format, the writing deftly balances the pleasures of glamour and intrigue with insight into these fascinating people, most of all Queen Catherine, a figure so often set on the sidelines of history, but here deservedly at the center.” – Gordon Dahlquist, The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters