The Girl in the Glass Tower by Elizabeth Fremantle was published in 2016 and it definitely didn’t appear in my original list of 20 Books of Summer, because it’s a library book which I picked up after reading that it was set in Hardwick Hall, a place I’ve really enjoyed visiting in the past.

But Hardwick Hall is just a sumptuous prison for Arbella, she’s the granddaughter of Bess of Hardwick, but is also the great-granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII’s sister and that means that she’s in the running to be next in line to the throne when Queen Elizabeth I dies. Sadly Bess has no real love for her granddaughter, Arbella is just a step to power for the wildly ambitious Bess. Arbella has only one friend, her tutor and she’s bereft when he is sent away.

There are others who regard their family as having a good claim to the throne and with Elizabeth not making clear who she wants to succeed to the throne after her death it’s a breeding ground for family intrigues.

The chapter headings range from Hardwick, Clerkenwell, Richmond Palace, Barnet, Whitehall and Bishopsgate. The Clerkenwell sections feature Aemilia Lanyer who had been a poet at court and had lived a comfortable life until the death of her partner had plunged her into poverty. She’s living a hand to mouth existence and is in danger of being accused of witchcraft.

This was a really enjoyable read and the author was able to read the many letters which had been written by Arbella over the years, which must have been a great help in capturing her personality.