To Shield the Queen

Enter the world of young Queen Elizabeth I with this novel which introduces us to Ursala Blanchard, a widowed young mother who has become a lady-in-waiting to the Queen. Queen Elizabeth, embroiled in a love affair with Robin Dudley, has sent Ursala to Robin's ailing wife’s manor in the hopes that she can quell the malicious rumors against Robin and, by inference, against the Queen. While there, Ursala finds herself at the center of the scandal and must use her wits to try and get to the truth. This is Buckley’s first Ursala Blanchard novel; others follow more of the adventures of Ursala and the Queen. A caveat: to us the language seems more 19th century Victorian than Elizabethan English.