Palace of Spies

Summary:

This book takes place in Great Britain during the early seventeenth century. It dealt with the tension between the courts of George I and James the Pretender. It’s mainly about a teenage orphan named Peggy Fitzroy. She lived a decently good life in her uncle’s home until she is thrown out onto the street because she refused to marry a man who sexually assaulted her.  She is then discovered by a mysterious man named Mr.Tinderflint. He and a group of others have a scheme to get Peggy into the court of King George as a spy. She will be impersonating a deceased lady in waiting to Caroline, Princess of Wales. The woman she’s impersonating, Lady Francesca, left the court when she became ill and Mr.Tinderflint kept her death a secret so he could easily replace her. Peggy originally takes the position believing Lady Francesca died of natural causes, but upon arrival at King George's palace she comes across evidence that leads her to believe she might have actually been murdered.

Peggy has a much longer list of suspects than clues but she is determined to find out what happened to Lady Francesca. It looks as if someone knows what really happened to her and is playing along to keep from getting caught. Peggy deceives many people to think she really is Lady Francesca. This leads towards much anger and frustration from many people. She fears that if she doesn't figure out who killed Lady Francesca and what happened to her, they may do the same to her. Among all of this chaos, Peggy finds that Francesca may not have been as upfront about what she was doing there as everyone thought. Peggy sets out to figure out what Francesca was up to, which leads her into even more danger.

In the end, Peggy discovers who murdered Lady Francesca and falls in love with the one who helped her through everything, Mathew. Throughout the story, Peggy finds herself in many risky and near-death situations. This book is filled with tons of mystery, danger, and adventure. Even a little romance occurs.

Characters to Know:

Peggy: Main character, orphan, smart and very sneaky

Mr. Tinderflint: was Lady Francesca’s keeper, kept her death a secret and eagerly replaced her in the court, leader of a group of spies

Mrs. Abbott: older woman, at first Peggy doesn’t like her but eventually they get along, has much depth, a part of the group of spies

Matthew: sweet, kind, trustworthy, helps Peggy a lot with discovering what happened to Lady Francesca, Peggy falls in love with him

Robert: Very sneaky and deceptive, nice to Peggy and first but completely changes throughout the book, Lady Francesca’s former lover

Mr. Peele: very decietful, started out trustworthy but later he killed Robert and we discover he also murdered Lady Francesca

Quotes:

This quote displays a bit of racism found in the book:

"Nonsense, Peggy. No one would dream of sending an English girl to the tropics. You'd be sick in an instant, not to mention brown as an Indian." Pale skin was regarded as one of the many signs of rank and virtue, and therefore must be strictly cherished. We good English girls were constantly warned that ruination accompanied turning the least bit brown.” (pg. 14)

This quote shows the sneakiness of Lady Francesca:

“The conspiracy did not belong to Tinderflint, Peele, and Abbott. It belonged wholly and solely to sunny, sweet, pretty, false Lady Francesca. In the end, though, it was not the swiftness with which the uprising was put down that ruined her schemes. It was death.” (Pg. 310)

This quote shows Peggy’s feelings about this adventure she’s on and states she was “delicately” breeded.

“I have a warning I wish to impart most urgently to all young ladies of delicate breeding who wish to embark upon lives of adventure: don’t.” (Pg. 317)

Author:

The author of this book is Sarah Zettel. She is an award-winning science fiction, fantasy, romance, and mystery writer. She’s written over 20 novels of all different genres. I think she is very experienced and definitely has the knowledge to construct a great history novel.

Critique:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Though it was educating and contained information about history, I felt as if I was reading a modern novel. My attention was held throughout the book and the mystery in it kept me entertained. The adventure and deceit in the book were also great additions. I recognized traces of racism, sexism, and feminism as well. I think this book was very well written and greatly captured the historical aspect Zettel was going for. I recommend it to anyone.