The Courtesan

Mary Gray, the unacknowledged daughter of Patrick, Master of Gray, inherits her father’s beauty, intelligence and instinct for political intrigue. She also inherits his passionate nature, and her forbidden love for the young Ludovick, Duke of Lennox, places private desire in direct conflict with dynastic and religious calculation.

Coming of age in a Scotland divided by court factions and confessional fear, Mary understands that innocence offers no protection. She learns to read the schemes surrounding James VI and to recognise the damage caused by her father’s relentless manoeuvring. Rather than become another instrument of Patrick’s ambition, she attempts to counter his plots and defend Protestant Scotland against the threat of Catholic intervention. The second Master of Gray novel shifts the centre of the trilogy to a daughter determined to use the talents of an intriguer without surrendering her conscience, even when love makes neutrality impossible.