Bess by Tony Riches

Blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club

Today is my stop on The Coffee Pot Book Club’s blog tour for Bess by Tony Riches.

Bess Throckmorton defies her notorious background and lack of education to become Queen Elizabeth’s gentlewoman and trusted confidante.

Forced to choose between loyalty and love, duty and desire, will she risk her queen’s anger by marrying adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh without permission?

Entangled in a web of intrigue, from the glittering Palace of Whitehall to the cells of the Tower of London, Bess endures tragedy and injustice, becoming a resilient, determined woman who takes nothing for granted.

Can she outwit her enemies, protect her family, and claim her destiny in a world where women are pawns and survival is a game of deadly consequences?

This is the true story of the last of the Elizabethans, which ends the story of the Tudor dynasty – and introduces their successors, the Stuarts.

Bess Throckmorton is a figure I’ve very briefly stumbled across on my Tudor travels but isn’t a woman I know much about. So, I enjoyed reading about her story and her relationship to some big players of the Tudor and Stuart world. Through Riches’ words, she steps out to take up a well-deserved spotlight.

Bess is a character who sees strong character development as the novel progresses, from a rebellious but loyal gentlewoman to a woman who is the backbone and provider for her family. With poor writing skills at the start and little knowledge of life outside of Elizabeth’s court, her life of exile and imprisonment forces her to seek self-improvement. This is through her perseverance with writing letters despite struggling to find the right words and spelling, to taking writing lessons. She also develops a shrewd business eye, establishing stables for horse breeding, running a household and managing the household finances.

Her relationship with her husband, Walter Raleigh, is complex. We’ve all heard of Walter Raleigh, the soldier and explorer, but Riches tells a more personal, intimate and poignant side to his story. We see his life behind bars, the political challenges he faced and his life between rulers, that of Elizabeth and King James I of England. Of course, these life events have an impact on his marriage and on Bess, and Riches captures the complexity of its challenges and how the events of history heavily influenced their relationship. It’s hard not to admire Bess and how she responds to these events, taking on the role of provider for the household, a role traditionally held by men.

Riches is quick to immerse the reader into a late Elizabethan world, skilfully navigating into the new reign of James I. He captures traditional food such as venison in claret wine with cinnamon and cloves, life at the royal court and daring new fashions. He even shows how time changes society with the impact of plague and the emergence of a new style of building. The result is authentic, well-researched historical fiction that shows the shift between the Elizabethan and the Jacobean eras, whilst maintaining Bess’s role in both these worlds.

Although this is the sixth and last book of The Elizabethan Series, it works as a standalone.

I really enjoyed this historically rich novel for the lens it shone on a determined and lesser-known figure of the Tudor and Jacobean world

Thank you to The Coffee Pot Book Club for the tour opportunity and to Tony Riches for sending me a copy of the book.

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