Knaves and Players

England is rejoicing in the defeat of the Spanish Armada but for Gabriellen Angel it has left her heartbroken as it has taken the life of her lover, the dashing privateer Captain Jack Stoneham. It is not the only tragedy she has to face. Her father, the renowned playwright Esmond Angel, is in debt to an unscrupulous moneylender Victor Prew. To save Esmond from debtor's prison and his troupe of players from disbandment, Gabriellen marries Prew. Immediately her life is thrown into danger from her malicious husband, who is a Catholic secretly plotting the kill Queen Elizabeth.
But the feisty Gabriellen outwits Prew and has a powerful ally in her friend Mark Rowan - a spy for Her Majesty. When her bond with Mark Rowan becomes something far more special than friendship, she begins to wonder if she has found an unique happiness . . .
But when Jack Stoneham reappears in her life after escaping as a prisoner of the Spanish her heart and loyalty is torn between her new and old love and she faces new dangers during the turbulent times ahead.
Set against a background of the early playhouses, the London Underworld and Court intrigue - desire, betrayal and vengeance interweave this dramatic and atmospheric portrayal of life in Elizabethan England - climaxing in the disastrous rebellion of the Earl of Essex.


Genre: Sagas