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Google Overview
It is 1588 and King Philip of Spain has assembled the greatest fleet and the most powerful army in the world. It is envisaged that the Armada, commanded by the brave and chivalric Duke Medina Sidonia, will crush the English and bring an end to the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

One man who has inside knowledge of this event is the young Henry Gresham. Caught up in the intrigues of Elizabeth's court as its inhabitants jostle for power and favour, he begins to realise that are many there who resent his youth, wealth and good looks. His position as a spy for Walsingham further endangers his life - and when he finds himself sailing on the Armada in order to spy on Sir Francis Drake, who is deemed suspicious of working for the Spanish, he's not entirely certain where the real threat lies...

I read a copy of this a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

I saw this on your wishlist, hope you enjoy it :-)

Happy Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. What a lovely surprise. It’s a long time since I read any of this series. I look forward to it, and chocolates too! Mind you, something tells me that the the chocolates may be gone before I get round to the book! 😂

I enjoyed this book very much although I did find it a little hard going. It has inspired me to finally read one of the historical books from the bibliography, 'The Spanish Armada' by Colin Martin & Geoffrey Parker, which I picked up at the Leeds Uncon back in 2013!!

On the way to a mutual Bookcrossing friend.

This one should keep you busy for at least 2 days! Enjoy!

Thank you, Deltic, for a very welcome package that the postman delivered this morning, full of surprise books and stuff, much appreciated. I've been reading more than ever during lockdown and my to be read piles have been decreasing at an alarming rate. I'm delighted that kind and helpful BookCrossing friends have been restocking them for me . . .
I look forward to reading this, despite your less than enthusiastic journal entry, because I've previously enjoyed The Desperate Remedy and The Conscience of the King by this author.
Thank you again and Greetings to yorkshire-lass!

English schools teach English history from an English viewpoint, so I found it particularly interesting to be on the flagship of the Spanish Armada as it sailed up the English Channel.
With thanks again to Deltic and yorkshire-lass for this adventure on the high seas!

In the post as a surprise RABCK - which may or may not be a welcome one . . .

What a lovely and welcome surprise. I'm not sure that I would ever have picked them up myself but will certainly give it a go. Thanks for sharing.

Although this is the third book in this series in publication order its the first in chronological order. The novel is an interesting mix of historical fact and fiction, whilst Gresham, Mannion and Anna are fictional most of the other major characters within are real historical figures. Martin Stephen is/was High Master of St Paul's Boys' School in London and author of a number of titles on military history, unfortunately this book reads like it IMHO. It's obvious that Stephen has done his research, as shown in the brief historical notes at the back, but I felt that the prose felt dry and distant, lacking any real passion but worse of all I felt absolutely no empathy towards Gresham. I found it particularly interesting to be on the flagship of the Spanish Armada as it sailed up the English Channel and it did make me go and google the other characters so wasn't all bad.