Riven Realm

After James IV is killed at Flodden in 1513, the Scottish crown passes to his seventeen-month-old son. The realm is divided among nobles who hope to control the child king, while England, France, the Holy Roman Empire and the papacy all watch for an opportunity to redirect Scottish policy.

Two young men from modest Lowland lairdly families are drawn into the centre of the crisis. David Lindsay and David Beaton possess different talents and ambitions, but both become essential to the protection of James V and the survival of royal authority. Court appointments, shifting regencies and foreign alliances turn the king’s household into a battleground where custody is equivalent to power. As Lindsay and Beaton learn to navigate betrayal, intimidation and factional hatred, they begin the long work of preparing James to rule for himself. The opening James V novel presents post-Flodden Scotland as a fractured kingdom whose future depends upon the guardians of a child.