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George Heriot, jeweller to King James VI, moves with the Court from Edinburgh to London when James inherits the English throne. It is 1603. Life is a Babel of languages and glittering new wealth. The Scottish court speaks Danish, German, Middle Scots, French and Latin. James gives Shakespeare his first secure position. To calm the perfidious religious tensions in the country, he commissions his translation of the Bible. He creates the Union Jack, called after himself. George becomes wealthier than the King as he sets a fashion for hat jewels and mingles with Drummond of Hawthornden, Ben Jonson, Inigo Jones and the mysterious ambassador Luca Von Modrich.
However, both King and courtier bow before the phenomenal power invested in their wives.
George Heriot, jeweller to King James VI, moves with the Court from Edinburgh to London when James inherits the English throne. It is 1603. Life is a Babel of languages and glittering new wealth. The Scottish court speaks Danish, German, Middle Scots, French and Latin. James gives Shakespeare his first secure position. To calm the perfidious religious tensions in the country, he commissions his translation of the Bible. He creates the Union Jack, called after himself. George becomes wealthier than the King as he sets a fashion for hat jewels and mingles with Drummond of Hawthornden, Ben Jonson, Inigo Jones and the mysterious ambassador Luca Von Modrich.
However, both King and courtier bow before the phenomenal power invested in their wives.
Findlay’s seamless narrative weaves confidently through court intrigue... she leaves the reader wishing for more, which is really all a writer can hope for.
'With a wonderful insight into life in 17th-century Edinburgh and London, The Queen’s Lender is about power, suspicion, religious strife, persecution, and conspiracy. Fast-paced, informative, gripping and beautifully written, seen through the turbulent years of the reign of James VI of Scotland and I of England. Royal court intrigue at its finest.'
‘A joy to read. In George Heriot – Edinburgh goldsmith, royal jeweller, and philanthropist – Findlay has found an everyman through whom we all get access to the weird world of royalty. Her novel captures the domestic wit and warmth, alongside the casual brutality of the court of James VI of Scotland and I of England. Beautifully pitched between the homeliness and the haughtiness of the Shakespearean era – and often very funny.’
'A stunning novel about the birth of the United Kingdom that demonstrates the scholarship of the author, as well as her imaginative power'
'Findlay excels in conveying the nature of a place, be it the Queen’s own private chamber, an Edinburgh close, a fragrant garden, or a claustrophobic cabin in a ship at sea. We are there, we smell the flowers and the fish, we see the vomit.'
'Jean Findlay is a master wordsmith and the novel's storyline is revealed at breakneck speed. The text ascends to the condition of poetry... Every politician in Scotland's Parliament should read this unforgettable novel. It should be required reading for every Scottish schoolchild.'
It is sometimes too easy when contemplating the history of Edinburgh to forget that it was lived in by real people. This work of historical fiction is an antidote to that. It is witty and also, sometimes, very funny.
