Happy Valentine’s Day! Of course as I looked through my collection of yet-to-be-blogged-about #read99women recommendations, I figured today’s story needed to be a love story. But what kind? Romantic love? Family love? A book about a mother’s love for her child, a lighthearted will-they-or-won’t-they romance, an epic tale of passion and betrayal?

Then I decided that no matter what I picked, it would be appropriate, since this whole series is about books we love. And in nearly every recommendation I looked at, my writer friends talked about how they loved or adored the book they’d chosen. Basically, warm fuzzy feelings every day around here.

So I chose the recommendation from Gill Paul, a fabulous author from the UK, whose recommendation is full of book-love and also happens to sound like a fascinating love story of a most unusual sort: THE POISON BED by E.C. Fremantle.

Ah, but first! Gill’s bio: Gill Paul’s historical novels have reached the top of the USA Today, Toronto Globe & Mail and UK kindle charts, and been translated into twenty languages. She specializes in relatively recent history, mostly 20th century, and enjoys re-evaluating real historical characters and trying to get inside their heads.

Gill also writes historical non-fiction, including A History of Medicine in 50 Objects and series of Love Stories. Published around the world, this series includes Royal Love Stories, World War I Love Stories and Titanic Love Stories. She also writes short stories for magazines and speaks at libraries and literary festivals about subjects ranging from the British royal family to the Romanovs, and about writing itself. Her next novel, JACKIE AND MARIA (about Jackie Kennedy and Maria Callas) will be published in the US in August 2020 and in the UK in September 2020.

Gill’s #read99women recommendation is THE POISON BED, by E.C. Fremantle. Says Gill, “I’ve bought this novel for loads of book-loving friends, and they’ve all loved it as much as I do. It’s an instantly absorbing, cleverly written historical mystery, told partly from the point of view of Robert Carr, a handsome, charismatic favourite of King James I, and partly through the eyes of the beautiful Francis Howard, of the famous Howard dynasty. The story opens with Francis being taken to the Tower after confessing to murder – but did she do it?”

“She was previously married to Essex, a physically abusive and emotionally stunted man who failed to consummate their marriage. Her devious uncle plots to have the union annulled so he can wed her to Carr and thus wriggle into royal favour. Francis and Robert are attracted to each other so it seems a good plan. But in the background there are whispers of witchcraft, punishable by death, and Robert’s ex-lover Thomas Overbury stands in the way.”

“Elizabeth Fremantle’s prose is rich and delicious. She builds a convincing picture of the surreptitious glances and veiled nuances that create intrigue in the shadowy reaches of the English court, where Machiavellian ambition, gossip and self-interest rule. It’s Hilary Mantelesque but sharper and more focused. I knew little of the period, but learned this is the true story of what became a major scandal in the early 17 th century; you can feel in your bones that the research is impeccable. The characterisation of both Francis and Carr is subtle and convincing. She has been groomed to use her womanly wiles to secure her family’s fortunes, but might she have her own plans? Should Robert trust her? Should she trust him? We jump from the present day, as they are held in the Tower trying to save their skins, to the past as their romance develops, layer upon layer. It’s a sensual, addictive novel that gets inside your head, and a portrait of evil you won’t forget in a long time.”