bookchickdi: The Locksmith's Daughter by Karen Brooks

Monday, August 6, 2018

The Locksmith's Daughter by Karen Brooks

The Locksmith's Daughter by Karen Brooks
Published by William Morrow Paperbacks ISBN 9780062686572
Trade paperback, $16.99, 576 pages

Looking at the striking cover of Karen Brooks' The Locksmith's Daughter, with a woman dressed in a pale yellow long dress facing away from the camera, clearly this is an historical novel. It's set in the time of Queen Elizabeth as the tagline- "In Queen Elizabeth's time, no one's secrets are truly safe." It enticed me right away.

The novel opens with Mallory Bright walking through London with her chaperone, wearing her widow's weeds. It's clear from the looks and nasty comments made to her, that Mallory was involved in some sort of scandalous behavior that everyone knows about.

She arrives home at her parents. Her father is one of the city's most respected locksmiths, able to open or create any lock. Mallory spent many days with her beloved father, learning how to open even the most intricate lock. Her mother looks upon Mallory with indifference, perhaps even coldness.

At this time in England, there is a war between Protestants and Catholics. The previous queen Mary was a Catholic and she was executed. The Protestant Queen Elizabeth and her court fear the Catholics and accuse Jesuit priests of infiltrating England in order to incite the people to rise up against the Queen.

Sir Francis Walsingham is the Queen's spymaster, and he appeals to Mallory's sense of duty to her country in order to convince her to join his team to spies to root out the Catholic menace. Mallory's father is Protestant, and her mother Catholic, and Mallory chooses to become a spy.

Following Mallory's exploits as she trains to become a spy, was fascinating. One wouldn't think of women in the late 1500's being used as spies, and yet they were.

The author Karen Brooks is an historian, and her writing is a fine example of that. She has throroughly researched the era, and the language that she uses is authentic to the times. You can almost smell the city (and it is not pleasingly aromatic) as our heroine walks the streets. It's a big book, over 500 pages, filled with great historical detail that would please any reader who likes to steep themselves in the time period in which they are reading.

There are secrets to be uncovered, and Mallory finds herself at a crossroads where she must decide where her loyalties lie. Things (and people) are not always as they seem at first glance. There is also a dashing hero, but this is not a romance novel by any means.

I must give fair warning as well- there are a few realistic and graphic scenes of torture that some may find to difficult to read. It was a violent time in history and Brooks does not shy away from that.

Although The Locksmith's Daughter is set in Elizabethan times, there are some things that resonate today. The extreme distrust and anger between people of different faiths then can be compared to the distrust between people of different political beliefs today. The more things change, the more they stay the same?

It took me awhile to get into The Locksmith's Daughter, but once I did, I flew through it waiting to find out how Mallory's story ends. I also liked at the end of the book where Brooks lists each character and notes whether they were an actual person in history. That is unique and helpful. Her author's note also delves more deeply into her research for this book.

I recommend The Locksmith's Daughter for people who like thoroughly researched historical fiction stories about strong women and aren't offended by graphic violence.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Karen Brooks' tour. The rest of her stops are here: