As Stephen Long steps ashore in England that gray dawn in May, 1581, he wonders how many more Catholics will have to die to make Queen Elizabeth feel secure.  Involuntarily, he trembles at the thought that soon he may be numbered among them. For in the days ahead each time Stephen hears confession or celebrates Mass, he commits yet another act of high treason against the British Crown, for which Elizabeth’s swift penalty is gruesome torture and slow death.
Although from her earliest years Caroline has known herself to be called to cloistered contemplative life as a nun, some years ago she was forced by her father into a politically “safe” marriage with an upright Protestant, from whom she must hide her Catholicism — and her true vocation — lest she, too, be executed for her faith.
Hanging by the neck is swift martyrdom, but Caroline’s doubts and guilt have pained her daily for years now.
Death waits for no man, nor, in 1581, do Elizabeth’s minions: relentlessly, they seek out and kill Catholics, not caring whether fears or doubts, deceits or love (human or divine) stir and trouble the souls of those they kill.
Through this gripping, award-winning Catholic novel, you will experience the threatening and fearful world of sixteenth-century Elizabethan England, when men and women fought to practice an outlawed Catholic faith.
In just a few days, circumstances force Caroline and the young priest together.
With death hastening toward both of them, the beautiful fates of these two faithful Catholics confirm what we today too often forget: our faith is the most powerful force in the world — more powerful than politics, wars, or empires. More powerful even than the hard, cold will of Queen Elizabeth.
In this heartrending tale, Caroline and Fr. Stephen Long show us that it’s not power that writes the true history of the world; it’s faith: faith and the love that faith alone can awaken and sustain.
“Treason is one of the most powerful historical novels
I’ve ever read. It brings to vivid and shocking life the
age in which Shakespeare lived and in which the
English martyrs died.”
Joseph Pearce
author of The Quest for Shakespeare
Murder, mayhem, and religion fustrate the royal courtship that, through love, seeks to make peace between warring enemies England and Spain.
In 1623 Charles, heir to the throne of England, dons a disguise, crosses the Channel, rides horseback across France, and sneaks into Madrid, capital of England’s proud Catholic enemy, Spain.
His mission? To woo the lovely María, sister of the King of Spain, and accomplish by marriage what decades of war have failed to do: reconcile the two embittered nations.
Once Charles and María meet, neither palace intrigues nor bloody murders cool their growing attraction. One thing alone prevents their union: María’s Catholic Faith . . . which she will not abandon and England cannot abide.
Yes, Charles’s marriage to Catholic María would briefy unite the kingdoms, but could soon destroy the monarchy. Outraged at the prospect of a Catholic queen, Charles’s Puritan subjects are sure to rise up and take from him not only his throne, but even his life . . . and María’s . . . plunging Europe into warfare greater than any seen before.
From detailed records of this actual love’s gambit author Brennan Pursell has crafted a moving novel of faith, courage, danger, and hope, a tale in which the fate of nations hangs on the love of two young people: Prince Charles of England and Princess María of Spain.
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