The Ringed Castle

Name: The Ringed Castle
Rating: 4.7 (671 reviews)

by Dorothy Dunnett Book 5 in the The Lymond Chronicles series.

First published 1971

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4.7(671)

After Constantinople, Lymond enters the service of Ivan the Terrible and helps organise the expanding Muscovite army. Philippa Somerville returns to Mary I’s England and investigates Lymond’s birth while their nominal marriage becomes increasingly difficult to treat as a legal convenience. A Russian embassy brings Lymond back to London, exposing both of them to court politics and a conspiracy built around the secret Philippa is uncovering.

Ivan’s Russia offers Lymond the scale of command he has long sought, but service to an autocrat gives success a dangerous dependence on personal favour. His military reforms may strengthen Muscovy while also binding him more closely to a ruler whose trust is unpredictable.

Philippa’s research into Lymond’s origins creates an equally serious private crisis. When diplomacy returns him to England, political service and personal identity converge, forcing both characters to confront truths that their marriage of convenience was designed to postpone.