Catherine of Bergenza, Portugese Catholic princess, is sent to England to be the wife of Charles the Second, newly restored to the throne. Bringing an indomitable sense of right and wrong to a muddled and compromised court, where Charles feels obliged to pardon the wrongdoings of men who supported him or his father, even when those wrongdoings are directed against or harm him, enabling the rise of powerful lords who feel, and effectively are, untouchable by law, and who all turn against the king with savagery and ruthlessness. Charles himself wounds Catherine with his mistresses, but she remains not only faithful but manages to avoid succumbing to jealousy and bitterness, learning how to cope with the ebb ad flow of her husband's favour to best defend the interests of her beloved homeland and her fellow religionsists. It's a world of intrigue and plot and conspiracy, and it culminates in the extraordinary welter of political and religious ugliness that was the Popish Plot, during which only Catherine's good name and demeanour seem to keep the country from another Civil War.

Well written and well told, with touches of wit and great passion under the cool, precise voice, filled with extraordinary characters, as many good as evil, and many divided, such as her husband, a man of charm and grace, yet who constantly shifts and compromises weakly, and who is s casually and unquestioningly misogynistic as most other men of his age. A terrific, absorbing and fascinating read.