The Godmother's Secret

This story touched my heart. Elizabeth St. John blends personal insight and details from centuries-old journals belonging to her aristocratic family with historical facts to create a fascinating, heart-rending story about what really happened to the Princes in the Tower after Edward IV dies.

Written from the point of view of Lady Elysabeth Scrope, the book reveals why she took her young godson, Edward V (and his brother), to the Tower to prepare for his coronation believing she was doing her duty, then discovers she may have delivered him to an early death. We then see how she tried to… show more.

The best historical fiction are works that those opening a door to the past and keep us there.

The Godmother’s Secret is one such novel. Beautifully written, it offers a believable tale about the fates of the Princes in the Tower—one of them the uncrowned Edward V, and the other Richard, Duke of York, his younger brother.

Suspense. Intrigue. At times penned in prose near to poetry, this story speaks to us of the tragedy of war and its human cost. 

Ms. St John paints with words, and from the pages rise images of medieval London, complete with smoky haze, loud and dangerous crowds, and dark alleys. The Thames ebbs and flows, and over it all looms the Tower, so central to this story. It is like being totally submerged in the past, and it is even more impressive how Ms. St John manages to breathe such new life into the mystery of the Princes in the Tower.

I just couldn’t put this down, utterly captivated by Elysabeth’s story and Ms. St John’s beautiful prose.  

There are several possibilities for the disappearance of the two princes in the Tower [of London], and they have been debated and argued over for many years, but Ms. StJohn writes very compellingly about another possible truth behind this mystery of history.

We'll never know the truth of whether the princes were murdered, and by whom, or did they secretly survive perhaps? Either way, The Godmother's Secret gives an excellent explanation. Ms. StJohn's novels are all gripping, superbly written tales, and this one is absolutely no exception – in fact, probably her best yet.