A Book of Secrets
Longlisted for the Historical Writers Association Debut Crown Award 2020 and the Diverse Book Awards 2020
‘A masterful piece of storytelling that draws you into a Tudor London you won’t have visited before’ (historian Miranda Kaufmann, author of Black Tudors)
‘A masterly and believable fictional creation’ (novelist Rachel Hore)
‘An empathic and talented new writer’ ( writer and broadcaster Colin Grant )
A Book of Secrets tells the story of a girl from 16th century Ghana hunting for her lost brother through an Elizabethan underworld of spies, plots and secret Catholic printing presses. Susan Charlewood is taken from Ghana (then known as Guinea) as a baby. Brought to England, she grows up as maidservant in a wealthy Catholic household.
Living under a Protestant Queen in late 16th Century England, the family risk imprisonment or death unless they keep their faith hidden. When her mistress dies Susan is married off to a London printer who is deeply involved in the Catholic resistance. She finds herself embroiled in political and religious intrigue, all while trying to find her lost brother and discover the truth about her origins.
In A Book of Secrets Kate Morrison explores the perils of voicing dissent in a state that demands outward conformity, at a time when England is taking its first steps into the long shadow of transatlantic slavery and old certainties about the shape of the universe itself are crumbling. A Book of Secrets gives a striking, compelling new perspective on the era, allowing one of the thousands of lost Elizabethan voices to speak out loud.
Published by Jacaranda Books – click here to purchase.
REVIEWS
Rachel Hore for BookOxygen
Michael Ohajuru for Black Africans in Renaissance Europe blog
Kate Morrison 