The Queen’s Musician
2025
I’ll say it—Mark Smeaton is my new favorite character of the Tudor era. In The Queen’s Musician, Martha Jean Johnson creates an unforgettable classic hero, one for the ages. He’s talented, he’s sensitive, he’s loyal. He follows his heart, to a fault. But like many of the people who surround him, his life is not his own.
In the opening scenes, Mark witnesses the spectacular ruin of his patron, Cardinal Wolsey. It’s a fall from grace, a loss of innocence, an event that will color young Mark’s every interaction with the world. Everyone associated with the cardinal is suspected of treason, and Mark’s future is in jeopardy. He’s been raised in Wolsey’s household, having been taken from his home and family at a young age after his talents were discovered.
Without having much choice in the matter, Mark is placed in Henry VIII’s court, where he plays his lute and meets the familiar players, all touchingly and freshly portrayed by Johnson. Everyone has their moment in the sun, and everyone loses, a collective rags-to-riches-to rags story, driven by the king and Thomas Cromwell (and as we know, he will get his, well after this novel closes). There’s Madge Shelton, a lady-in-waiting trapped in her position because she’s a Boleyn relative, Anne Boleyn, doomed by her own victories, and a brilliantly drawn Francis Weston, a prisoner of his charm and appeal. And more. No matter their station, from the lowly musician to the queen, all these characters operate, and attempt to find happiness, in the very narrow sliver of their lives that they control.
When you pick up this book, you may already know the ending, but you won’t be able to put it down.
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