It is 1601, and Queen Elizabeth is dying. Childless, she has yet to designate an heir and King James VI of Scotland is the leading contender. However, there are suspicions that he is secretly a Catholic and might cause another round of religious wars. So the Queen’s spymasters decide that they must discern the true nature of King Jame’s soul in order to be certain that he will support and defend a Protestant England. 

Geoffrey Belloc, a veteran spy and warrior who went undercover amongst Catholics during the previous religious wars is tasked with coming up with a plan for finding out what James truly believes.  Belloc decides that the best man for the job is a physician from the Ottoman Empire, who was left behind from a diplomatic mission from the Ottoman Empire. As a last gesture of goodwill from the Sultan, Mahmoud Ezzedine was offered to Queen Elizabeth as a gift. Unable refuse the gift, the Queen offered Ezzedine a place at court as long s he converted and took a Christian name- Matthew Thatcher, as Muslims were not allowed at Court. There he might have remained but when one of the Queen’s least favorite barons suffered a seizure in the Queen’s presence, he was cared for by Thatcher, and Elizabeth seizing an opportunity gave Thatcher to her baron so he could continue the baron’s care when he was ordered to return to Cumberland to recuperate. 

Isolated and alone, missing his family and the warmth of his native land, Thatcher is bemused when he is approached by Belloc to become a spy in King James court. An unlikely spy, he does not really understand the differences or nuances between Catholicism or Protestantism, much less the ways that these differences might appear even if he heard or saw them. but he is motivated by Belloc’s promise to return him to his family if he will only do this one last thing.

What is the nature of faith? How can you tell what a person believes? These are the questions at the heart of this book. Phillips creates an unlikely protagonist in Ezzedine/Thatcher, a man unmoored from all he knows, loves and believes, yet he is the one who must judge and determine the faith and belief of another. Phillips is artful in his use of words as he develops his characters. Driven by character rather than plot, this book is a meditation on the what it means to have faith, and how faith reveals itself by our actions and in our conversation. Complicated and with an inevitable but disappointing ending, this was a fascinating novel of intrigue and faith.

Brenda’s Rating: ***** (5 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Sharon, Ken and Keith

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in ebook format.