Review: "The Traitor's Daughter" by Barbara Kyle

This is a very interesting story about a fictional attempt on Queen Elizabeth’s life in 1582 by the supporters of her cousin Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. It is chocked full of intrigue and suspense. Kate Lyon is the daughter of Baron Adam Thornleigh, a staunch supporter of Queen Elizabeth. She is estranged from him because she has married a poor playwright, who appears to be a supporter of Mary Stuart, but things are not as they seem to be and they are actually working behind the scenes to break up a plot to overthrow the Queen. After Kate’s brother mysteriously appears from France where he was living in exile with their mother. Loyalties are even more confused and torn. The stage is set for an action packed, thrilling story that you can’t put down.

The author does a good job of filling in the details for the characters and giving them depth. The plot flows and is believable. Although the characters in the story are fictional, the era and events it is placed in is real and Ms. Kyle imparts enough historical background to give the story complexity. My only criticism of the story is there are two love scenes in the story that are described in very blatant language. In my opinion, the scenes could have been conveyed without being so graphic because it doesn’t add anything to the story and limits greatly who I would recommend this book to.

To reiterate, this was a very exciting thriller set in the late 1500’s in England. The story is page turning and enthralling. Don’t pick this up though, if you are easily offended or give to younger readers.