A stunning debut on queer love betrayal and survival in Elizabethan England. Perfect for fans
of Hilary Mantel and Maggie O'Farrell. ________________ 'Vivid punchy brilliantly original'
SUNDAY TIMES 'Hugely impressive visceral and moving' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Imaginative
atmospheric and heart-poundingly tense' NEIL BLACKMORE _______________________ Kit
Marlowe: playwright poet lover. In the plague-stricken streets of Elizabethan England Kit
flirts with danger leaving a trail of enemies and old flames in his wake. His plays are a
roaring success he seems destined for greatness. But the queen's eyes are everywhere and the
air is laced with paranoia. When Marlowe is arrested on charges of treason heresy and sodomy -
all of which are punishable by death - he is released on bail with the help of Thomas
Walsingham a man he presumes to be his friend but who has in fact hired the infamous assassin
Robin Poley to take care of Marlowe fearing his own sins may come to light. Now with the
queen's spies the vengeful Baines and the double-crossing Poley closing in Marlowe's last
friend in the world is Ingram Frizer a total stranger who is obsessed with his plays and who
will within ten days' time become first Marlowe's lover and then his killer. Richly
atmospheric emotionally devastating and heartrendingly imagined Lightborne is a tender
thrilling tale of one of our most famous playwrights and a love that flourishes within the
margins. ______________ More praise for Lightborne ' Exerts a powerful pull' IRISH TIMES
' The kind of brilliant writing that rescues historical fiction from the museum' JOSEPH
O'CONNOR 'A deeply impressive achievement meticulously researched and fabulously rendered'
NIALL BOURKE
