The Queen's Fool
Philippa Gregory
 The story starts when a nine-year-old Hannah Green sees Thomas Seymour and Elizabeth flirting when she delivers books for her father. When asked why she seems surprised, she tells him she has seen a scaffold behind him. Seymour is executed within a year. Hannah and her father run a book shop on Fleet Street. She and her father left Spain after Hannah's mother was burnt at the stake. On their journey to England, her father dresses Hannah as a boy to protect her. One day, Lord Robert Dudley and John Dee, his tutor, visit the shop. John realises that Hannah has the Sight, after telling them that the Angel Uriel, was walking behind them. Her father denies it, calling Hannah a fool and claiming she is simple. Lord Robert and John Dee, insist on hiring Hannah, begging her as a holy fool to King (Edward VI). The king, on hearing about her gift, asks her what she sees of him. Hannah replies that she sees the gates of heaven opening for him. Amused by her answer, the king accepts Hannah. Though unwilling, Hannah has to accept it and thus begins her life at court. Hannah becomes the Dudley family's vassal, performing tasks and errands for the Dudley family as requested. Lord Robert sends her to spy on Lady Mary, King Edward's heir. She joins Mary's household, seeing a worn-out woman with a sad life. While there, they hear of King Edward's death and the Duke of Northumberland's plans to put his son, Guilford Dudley, and his wife, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne instead, intended to rule them the way he ruled King Edward. Unfortunately the Duke's plans unravel when England declares for Mary so she takes the crown from her late brother, with Hannah by her side. Queen Mary is crowned, making Hannah overjoyed for her mistress but also heartbroken that Robert Dudley is in the Tower of London. The jester Will Sommers, a real historical figure, teaches Hannah how to be an entertaining jester, as her older and more experienced colleague. Meanwhile, her betrothed, Daniel Carpenter, is annoyed that Hannah is in love with someone else. Hannah doesn't have anything against Daniel; she simply doesn't want to marry. She learns to deal with her romantic feelings and worries about Queen Mary's forthcoming marriage to Prince Philip of Spain, an enthusiastic supporter of the Inquisition. Hannah's father, Daniel and his family are concerned that Prince Philip will bring the Inquisition to England and insist on leaving. Daniel and Hannah previously agreed to marry on her 16th birthday but Daniel insists they marry on arriving in Calais, sealing it with a kiss. Hannah realizes that she desires Daniel. When Queen Mary and Prince Philip marry - Hannah's father, Daniel and his family leave England. Hannah initially agrees to go too but changes her mind on seeing Princess Elizabeth going to the Tower of London, promising to join them in Calais when released from service to Queen Mary and Princess Elizabeth. Hannah slips back into court life, receiving a letter from Daniel declaring his love but is unsure how she feels about him. Over a year later, Hannah is arrested for heresy and is taken for questioning. Luckily, the clerk is John Dee, her old friend. He gets the charges dropped, dismissing them as servants' gossip, and she returns to court but asks Daniel to come and collect her - no longer feeling safe. Daniel and her father collect her within a week and they sail to Calais. During the night, Hannah and Daniel declare their love for one another. When they arrive in Calais, Hannah starts dressing and behaving like a lady and is instructed in how to run a household by her mother-in-law. She and Daniel marry and live with their family but Hannah struggles to get on with Daniel's mother and sisters. Later, after an argument with her mother-in-law, she discovers Daniel has a son with a Gentile woman living in Calais. Furious, she confronts Daniel, who admits it and tells her that if she forbids it, he will never see the woman or their son again. Hannah cannot forgive him and leaves Daniel, asking her father to move out with her and start their own bookshop. A few months later, Hannah's father dies and Daniel inherits everything but signs it over to Hannah. She runs the printing shop, taking her father's nurse as a lodger but flees when Calais falls to the French. Whilst escaping, she meets Robert Dudley and the mother of her husband's son. She begs Hannah to take her baby just before being killed by a French soldier. Hannah and her stepson flee to England under the protection of Lord Robert, staying with his wife, Amy, and friends of theirs. They suspect that Lord Robert is baby Daniel's father, treating Hannah accordingly, until she tells them that Daniel is her husband's son. Lord Robert is disappointed when Hannah refuses to be his mistress, having realising that Daniel is the love of her life. She returns to court and is welcomed by Queen Mary and Princess Elizabeth, performing errands for Mary again. Mary asks her to use her gift to see if Elizabeth will keep England in the true faith but Hannah tells Mary that Elizabeth won't but will be a better queen than she is a woman. When the English prisoners are ransomed by the French, she returns to Calais to find her husband. He is released and promises to accept Hannah's son as his own until she tells that baby Daniel is his illegitimate son. They reunite and live together as a Jewish family - Hannah having come to realise the importance of her religion. Daniel is a member of "The d'Israeli family, who in England go under the name of Carpenter" - hinting that Hannah and Daniel might eventually be among the distant ancestors of the 19th Century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who was of Jewish origin.