Lady of the Quay
(Isabella Gillhespie Series, Book #1)
By Amanda Roberts
Publication Date: April 22nd, 2025
Publisher: Hickory Press
Pages: 282
Genre: Historical Fiction / Elizabethan Fiction
Knowing she is innocent is easy … proving it is hard
1560, Berwick-upon-Tweed, northern England
Following the unexpected death of her father, a series of startling discoveries about the business she inherits forces Isabella Gillhespy to re-evaluate everything she understands about her past and expects from her future.
Facing financial ruin, let down by people on whom she thought she could rely, and suspected of crimes that threaten her freedom, Isabella struggles to prove her innocence.
But the stakes are even higher than she realises. In a town where tension between England and her Scottish neighbours is never far from the surface, it isn’t long before developments attract the interest of the highest authority in the land, Sir William Cecil, and soon Isabella is fighting, not just for her freedom, but her life. She must use her wits and trust her own instincts to survive.
Lady of the Quay introduces an enticing new heroine who refuses to be beaten, even as it becomes clear that her life will never be the same again.
From the author of the award-winning ‘The Woman in the Painting’.
Excerpt
I knelt and plucked a handful of half frozen clods of earth from the pile on the graveside. Standing once again, I averted my eyes, threw them into the hole and listened to the ricochet as they bounced across the surface of the coffin. Mr Selby nodded his approval before turning his back and threading a path through the long grass towards the church. The crowd started to drift away too, no doubt eager to get out of the cold and into the warmth of the inn, and the food and drink I had provided. I lingered. As unwilling as I had been to look at my father’s grave just a few minutes ago, I was now reluctant to leave him there. The finality of it was overwhelming. I was not ready to let him go. Say goodbye for the last time. He still had so much to show me, and I was finding it difficult to rid myself of the conviction that I had failed him in some way. What if the heavy mood that I had noticed had not been caused by worrying about the Lady Isabella, as I had assumed, but something else?
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Amanda Roberts
Amanda Roberts has worked as an Editor in business-to-business magazines for over 30 years, specialising in out-of-home coffee, vending and foodservice / catering, including Editor of the global gastronomy title: ‘Revue internationale de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs’. She currently freelances, editing UK-based healthcare titles – HEFMA Pulse, Hospital Food + Service and Hospital Caterer.
She is a member of the Society of Authors, the Historical Novel Society and West Oxfordshire Writers. She also volunteers for Tea Books (part of Age UK) to run a book club / reading group for elderly people in the community.
Connect with Amanda:
Thank you so much for hosting Amanda Roberts today, with an enticing excerpt from her fabulous new novel, Lady of the Quay.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Cathie xx
The Coffee Pot Book Club
Thank you for hosting me and Lady of the Quay on our tour. Amanda
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