Pursued by the Inquisition, I, Hannah Verde, now renamed Green, a fourteen-year-old Jewish girl, have been forced to flee Spain with my father. But I am no ordinary refugee. My gift of "Sight," the ability to foresee the future, is priceless in the troubled times
of the Tudor court. I am adopted by the glamorous Robert Dudley, the charismatic son of King Edward's protector, who brings me to court as a "holy fool" for Queen Mary and, ultimately, Queen Elizabeth. Hired as a fool but working as a spy; promised in wedlock but in love with my master; endangered by the laws against heresy, treason, and witchcraft, I have to choose between the safe life of a commoner and the dangerous intrigues of the royal family that are inextricably bound up in my own yearnings and desires.
I am a young teenager who has fled Spain and its Inquisition with my father, following the death of my mother. She had been burned alive at the stake as a heretic, when it was discovered that she was a "Marrano", a false Christian, that is, a Jew who has converted to Christianity but who follows the Jewish faith in secret. That is what I still am, even though I question faith in general.
Landing in London, my father opens a book store, and I make the acquaintance of Robert Dudley and Dr. John Dee. I also meet my betrothed, Daniel Carpenter, one of the People like me. But my Sight gets me begged as a fool to King Edward, and then Mary, whom I come to love. I also admire her sister Elizabeth, who is the woman I would so love to be. I stay in Fool's livery and breeches, but soon I will come into gowns as I grow into a woman.
My life revolves around Court, and trying not to get caught, and my future marriage. I am so lost in this world, trying to find my own.
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