Ambition. Sorcery. Treason.
How far will one woman dare to go?
1420. Eleanor Cobham arrives at the court of Henry V. Pretty but not highborn, she hopes for nothing more than to marry well.
It is a golden age for England, its royal family’s dynasty stretching across Europe. But ancient rivalries and restless ambition mean chaos waits in the shadows.
Working in the household of a Countess who commands her own army, Eleanor begins to see what a woman is capable of… and what men’s promises are truly worth.
For the first time, she dares to dream of rising further. Perhaps further than any woman before.
And for that she will need to turn to darker arts...
They say she summoned the devil himself to secure her fate.
They say she plotted to murder a king.
This is the tale of the woman they called witch. Who would have called herself queen.
Released in 2026
I have wanted to write about Eleanor Cobham for years. I knew of her as a woman who had been punished for witchcraft by being made to walk in her shift, her petticoat, carrying a candle through three London parishes to their churches to lie penitent before the altar for an hour while people watched her – or threw things. And she stayed with me. Finally, I got the time to write her story and it was far more complicated and interesting than I thought - it always is!
Book opens in 1420
Eleanor Cobham to the family of a minor lord in Surrey in about 1400. She joins the court as a lady in waiting with very little to her name. Yet she rises, to become a duchess, just one step away from the throne of England. At the peak of her power, she’s arrested and found guilty of witchcraft. It's a rare instance in history when a witchtrial doesn't seem to be a showtrial. Eleanor called up the devil to murder the king – Henry VI – and she was caught. Cleverly, she avoided execution by immediately claiming sanctuary at Westminster Abbey – it probably saved her life.
