Rizzio: Darkland Tales - Darkland Tales (Hardback)
Denise Mina (author)Published: 02/09/2021
The sixteenth-century murder of David Rizzio, Italian secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, is retold in Mina’s characteristically compelling style which brings the intrigue and machinations of a key moment in Scottish history vibrantly to life.
This breathtakingly tense work is a tale of sex, seduction, secrets and lies, one that looks at history through a modern lens and explores the lengths that men - and women - will go to in the search for love and power.
It's Saturday evening, 9 March 1566, and Mary, Queen of Scots, is six months pregnant. She's hosting a supper party. Outside, Edinburgh is bustling. It's full of the Great and the Good and the Idiot Sons of the Rich, here for a Parliament that will take Scotland by the shoulders and turn it from England to face Europe.
Mary doesn't know that her Palace is surrounded - that, right now, an army of men is creeping upstairs to her chamber. They're coming to murder David Rizzio, her friend and secretary, the handsome Italian man who is smiling across the table at her. Mary's husband wants it done in front of her and he wants her to watch it done ...
Publisher: Birlinn General
ISBN: 9781846975677
Number of pages: 128
Weight: 214 g
Dimensions: 206 x 132 x 10 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'Bestseller Mina vividly recreates a gruesome episode from the Tudor era in this searing novella set mostly over the course of a single day, Mar. 9, 1566. Mina interjects well-wrought characterizations; this superior historical thriller reads like a real-life episode of Game of Thrones' - Publishers Weekly
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“Vivid and unflinching”
This is the first in a new publishing series which will be shining a light on different aspects of Scottish history. In this case, we have the story from the court of Mary, Queen of Scots: the brutal murder of her... More
“Another stunner from Mina”
I have to confess that each time I read a Denise Mina book - and I’ve read them all - I think it’s her best. As an author she is terrific at drawing you in, and she is one of the best storytellers around.
I wasn’t...
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“Rizzio”
Firstly I must thank Laura at Berlin for sending me a copy of this truly wonderful book, it really makes you feel as if you are in the Chambers of Queen Mary. At one point I actually felt anxious and worried about... More
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