The Great Lie: A Nicholas Talbot Adventure

Nick Talbot, 16-year-old son of the late first Earl of Rokesby, escapes the clutches of his tyrannical guardian by running away with Will Kempe’s troupe of traveling players. They bring him to London—a hotbed of political and sexual intrigue in which a number of competing theaters vie for the attention of groundlings and aristocratic patrons alike. Nick is a talented lad and soon comes to the attention of Christopher Marlowe, a playwright, who is in need of both inspiration and discretion. So begins a partnership that leads to one of the most audacious plots the theater has ever known—and puts Nick at the center of a ring of actors, writers, spies, and power-mongers, in the midst of which he must find a way to survive and prosper. It isn’t long before young Nick Talbot finds himself torn between a career treading the boards of the Rose and the Globe and life as an undercover agent for Good Queen Bess, with Robert Cecil as his spymaster. His adventures take him from London to Edinburgh, Antwerp, Venice, and Verona, risking life and limb as he couriers vital documents across a continent in political, theatrical, and romantic ferment.