By Royal Command

  simples – medicines made from herbs

  spinet – a type of small harpischord

  taffety tart – a dish made with cream (the cream said to resemble the sheen of silk taffeta)

  trencher – wooden or pewter plate for serving or cutting food

  Bibliography

  Brown, Maisie, Barnes and Mortlake Past

  Historical Publications Limited, 1997

  Fell Smith, Charlotte, John Dee 1527 – 1608

  Constable and Company, 1909

  Jenkins, Elizabeth, Elizabeth the Great

  Phoenix Press, 1958

  Picard, Liza, Elizabeth’s London

  Phoenix, 2003

  Reed, Nicholas, Frost Fairs on the Frozen Thames

  Lilburne Press, 2002

  Weir, Alison, Elizabeth the Queen

  Pimlico, 1999

  Williams, Neville, The Life and Times of Elizabeth

  Book Club Associates, 1972

  Woolley, Hannah, The Gentlewoman’s Companion

  (1675) Prospect Books, 2001

  Also by Mary Hooper

  Historical fiction

  At the Sign of the Sugared Plum

  Petals in the Ashes

  The Fever and the Flame

  (a special omnibus edition of the two books above)

  The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose

  At the House of the Magician

  The Betrayal

  Contemporary fiction

  Megan

  Megan 2

  Megan 3

  Holly

  Amy

  Chelsea and Astra: Two Sides of the Story

  Zara

  Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin and New York

  First published in Great Britain in February 2008 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  36 Soho Square, London, W1D 3QY

  First published in the USA in October 2010 by Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books

  175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010

  This electronic edition published in October 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  Text copyright © Mary Hooper 2008

  The moral rights of the author have been asserted

  Illustrations by Carol Lawson

  All rights reserved

  You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

  A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN 978 1 4088 1645 5

  www.bloomsbury.com/childrens

  www.maryhooper.co.uk

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