The characters of Hannah and her family are invented, but there were jewish families concealing their faith in London as elsewhere in Europe, throughout this period. I am indebted to Cecil Roth's moving history for giving me a small insight into these courageous lives, and to the broadcaster and film-maker Naomi Grynn for her advice on jewish traditions and history.

Most of the other characters in this novel were real, created by me in this fiction to match the historical record as I understand it. Below is a list of some of my sources, and for the history of Calais I am also indebted to the French historian Georges Fauquet who was generous with his time and his knowledge.

• Billington, Sandra, A Social History of the Fool, 1984.
• Braggard Philippe, Termote Johan, Williams John, (ed) Walking the Walls, Historic Town Defences in Kent, Cote d'Opale and West
• Flanders, Kent County Council, 1999.
• Brigden, Susan, New Worlds, Lost Worlds, The rule of the Tudors 1485-1603, 2000.
• Cressy, David, Birth Marriage and Death, Ritual, Religions and the Life Cycle in Tudor and Stuart England, 1977.
• Darby, H.C. A new Historical Geography of England before 1600, 1976.
• Doran, John, A History of Court Fools, 1858.
• Fontaine, Raymond, Calais, ville d'histoire et de tourisme, Syndicat d'initiative de France, (P.d.C.) 2002.
• Green, Dominic, The Double Life of Doctor Lopez, 2003.
• Guy, John, Tudor England, 1988.
• Haynes, Alan, Sex in Elizabethan England, 1997.
• Hibbert, Christopher, The Virgin Queen, 1992.
• Lenoir, Laurent A la decouverte des anciennces fortifications de Calais, Nord Patrimonie Editions, 2002.
• Loades, David, The Tudor Court, 1986.
• Marshall, Peter, The Philosopher's Stone, A quest for the secrets of alchemy, 2001.
• Neale, J.E. Queen Elizabeth, 1934.
• Plowden, Alison, Elizabeth: Marriage with my Kingdom, 1999.
• Plowden, Alison, The Young Elizabeth, 1999.
• Plowden, Alison, Tudor Queens and Commoners, 1998.
• Ridley, Jasper, Elizabeth I, 1987.
• Roth, Cecil, A History of the Marranos, The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia,USA 1932.
• Somerset, Anne, Elizabeth I, 1997.
• Starkey, David, Elizabeth, 2001.
• Turner, Robert, Elizabethan Magic. The art and the Magus, 1989.
• Weir, Alison, Children of England, 1997.
• Weir, Alison, Elizabeth the Queen, 1999.
• Welsford, Enid, The Fool: His social and literary history, 1935.
• Woolley, Benjamin, The Queen's Conjuror, US 2001.
• Yates, Frances, The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age, 1979.