“Once the queen’s head is severed, he walks away. A sharp pang of appetite reminds him that it is time for a second breakfast, or perhaps an early dinner. The morning’s circumstances are new and there are no rules to guide us.”

The opening gambit of the novel reminds the reader that this is an epic tale. It begins “en medias res”—in the middle of things—as Anne Boleyn’s reign as queen comes to a tragic end. It also foreshadows Cromwell’s unexpected fall from grace. The tale is bookended by beheadings.

“If they cannot rule England themselves, as Plantagenets once did, they mean to rule through the king’s daughter. It is her bloodline they admire, the inheritance from her Spanish mother Katherine. For the sad little girl herself, they care much less; and when I see Mary, he thinks, I will tell her so. Her safety does not lie that way, with men who live on fantasies of the past.”

Here, Cromwell considers the intentions and actions of the ancient noble families, including the Poles, the Carews, and the Courtenays. All are suspected of having Catholic sympathies, and all have what are marginally legitimate claims to the throne, dating back to the days of the Plantagenets. If they can plot to install Mary on the throne—whose personage they think little of—they can also restore Catholicism to England. While these are obviously treasonous plans, it is also true that England has been weakened by Henry’s toppling of the old religious and geopolitical order. It is not at all clear that England can survive without the patronage of the Pope and the Holy Roman Empire. There are many, from peasant to merchant to courtier alike, who would support such plans.