The Forgotten Sister

Nicola Cornick 

‘An unquiet ghost is not so easily laid to rest… when the truth is concealed the pattern will repeat.’

FOR some years, Nicola Cornick has been making a name for herself as a writer of sumptuous historical novels, but this exciting writer moves up a gear in her thrilling re-telling of a notorious Tudor love triangle… with the added delight of a sizzling supernatural twist.

When Amy Robsart, wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and the handsome favourite of a young Queen Elizabeth, fell down the stairs to her death in suspicious circumstances in 1560, it set in motion a dark mystery that has echoed down the centuries.

With her historian’s eye for fascinating stories from the past, and her novelist’s instinct for drama, adventure and suspense, Cornick unleashes her imagination on a gripping, time-travelling tale which slips seamlessly between parallel characters and events in the 16^th century Tudor court and England today. And what an inspired blend of real history, romance, scandal, and spine-tingling supernatural The Forgotten Sister proves to be as the perilous past meets present menace, and the discovery of age-old truths changes the course of lives forever.

TIME-SLIP TALE: Nicola Cornick 

In 1560, just two years after Elizabeth Tudor took the throne of England, Amy Robsart is trapped in a loveless marriage to the handsome and dashing Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and a favourite of the fierce, determined and clever young queen.

The dutiful Amy has a quick mind and a quick tongue but she is powerless in comparison to her reckless and ruthlessly ambitious husband.  Her mother had counselled Amy against marrying Dudley but Amy – despite a lingering chill of doubt – had been seduced by the prospect of an exciting life at court.

Now, Amy is isolated at Cumnor Hall in Oxfordshire and surrounded by dangerous enemies, and with nowhere left to turn, she hatches a desperate plan to escape… one which will set in motion a scandal that touches the Crown and will have devastating, long-lasting consequences.

Meanwhile, in the present day, former child star and now high-profile celebrity TV presenter Lizzie Kingdom – who has been gifted from childhood with the ability to read objects and witness visions – lives a lonely, troubled life.

Lizzie, who had a ‘spectacularly messed-up childhood,’ values her oldest friend and former boy band star, Dudley Lester, and their names have often been linked even though Dudley is now married to socialite Amelia Robsart. But when Amelia, who had been suffering from clinical depression, falls down the stairs to her death, the Press immediately speculate that she took her own life because Dudley was divorcing her and spending all his time with Lizzie.

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As toxic rumours grow that Dudley might even have arranged Amelia’s death, Lizzie is forced to withdraw from the public eye in a blaze of scandal, and it seems the only life she has ever known could be over. But then she meets up with Amelia’s youngest brother, 16-year-old Johnny Robsart, whose fate will interlace with hers in the most unexpected of ways. For Johnny is certain that Lizzie is linked to a terrible secret dating back to the Tudor period.

And if Lizzie is brave enough to use her psychic skills and go in search of the truth, then what she discovers could break a deadly curse… and finally lay to rest the ghosts which have been locked together in an ‘endless dance through time.’

Cornick delivers a thoroughly entertaining whodunit across two superbly portrayed timelines, with each parallel character playing out their roles amidst spine-chilling events that have eerie cross-time similarities. Scandals, deaths, revelations, romance, and betrayals reverberate through time
and space as Lizzie Kingdom and Johnny Robsart get to grips with their families’ gathering ghosts.

Exploring the high price of the cult of celebrity in our 21^st century world, and the simmering tensions that were the hallmark of Tudor history, this fictional unravelling of an age-old mystery, with its frissons of supernatural and political machinations, is time-slip storytelling at its best.

For those who are already familiar with the enduring mystery of Amy Robsart’s death, and the famous names from the court of Queen Elizabeth, it is fun to make connections with the modern day cast, and for those with little knowledge of the period, the unfolding of real history is an enthralling journey of discovery.

Clever, compelling, and with past and present blended to perfection, The Forgotten Sister is one of this year’s must-read historical novels.

(HQ, paperback, £7.99)