Belloc enlists Mahmoud Ezzedine, a Muslim physician left behind by the last diplomatic visit from the Ottoman Empire, as his undercover agent. With time running out, London confronts a seemingly impossible question: What does James truly believe? It falls to Geoffrey Belloc, a secret warrior from the hottest days of Englands religious battles, to devise a test to discover the true nature of King Jamess soul. He has every reason to claim to be a Protestant, but if he secretly shares his familys Catholicism, then forty years of religious war will have been for nothing, and a bloodbath will ensue. The queens spymasters-hardened veterans of a long war on terror and religious extremism-fear that James is not what he appears. The leading candidate is King James VI of Scotland, but there is a problem. Potential successors secretly maneuver to be in position when the inevitable occurs. It is a capital crime even to think that Elizabeth will ever die. Book Synopsis Queen Elizabeths spymasters recruit an unlikely agent-the only Muslim in England-for an impossible mission in a mesmerizing novel from one of the best writers in America (The Washington Post) Evokes flashes of Hilary Mantel, John le Carr and Graham Greene, but the wry, tricky plot that drives it is pure Arthur Phillips.-The Wall Street Journal NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND THE WASHINGTON POST The year is 1601.
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