The Chronicles of Christoval Alvarez by Ann Swinfen (1-5, 8-9)
Requirements: ePUB / MOBI reader, 4.1 MB
Overview: Facing the threat of King Philip’s Enterprise of England – Spanish invasion and annexation of the country – Sir Francis Walsingham’s secret service spreads a network of agents across Europe. It is in this volatile world, seething with dangers, that the young physician Christoval Alvarez, a refugee from the horrors of the Portuguese Inquisition, is recruited into the secret service run by Sir Walsingham, where the complex plots of traitors against Queen and country must be met by means both devious and violent.
Genre: Espionage, Mystery, Historical, Elizabethan England
1 – The Secret World of Christoval Alvarez
It is the year 1586. England is awash with traitors, plotting to assassinate the Queen and bring about a foreign invasion. The young physician Christoval Alvarez, a refugee from the horrors of the Portuguese Inquisition, is coerced into becoming a code-breaker and agent in Sir Francis Walsingham’s secret service. In the race to thwart the plot, who will triumph – the ruthless conspirators or the equally ruthless State?
2 – The Enterprise of England
Facing the threat of King Philip’s Enterprise of England – Spanish invasion and annexation of the country – Sir Francis Walsingham’s espionage service spreads a spy network across Europe. After caring for hundreds of maimed and wounded soldiers returning from the fall of Sluys, young physician and code-breaker Christoval Alvarez is sent on two dangerous missions to Amsterdam, where, amongst the friendly Hollanders, treason and treachery lurks. Christoval’s ship, sailing home, plays its part in the great sea battle in which the small and inexperienced English navy must confront the most powerful sea force in the world.
3 – The Portuguese Affair
The year after defeating the Spanish Armada, England retaliates. The expedition to Portugal sets out to destroy what remains of Spain’s Atlantic fleet, drive the Spanish out of Portugal, put the claimant Dom Antonio of Aviz on the throne, and seize the Azores. But from the time the English fleet, led by Drake and Norreys, reaches Plymouth, things start to go wrong. Christoval Alvarez, sent to carry out two missions by Walsingham, has a more important private plan in mind. Are any members of the family still alive? And what will become of the disaster-ridden expedition?
4 – Bartholomew Fair
When Bartholomew Fair, London’s largest public festival, is threatened in 1589 by five hundred armed soldiers dismissed from service without pay, the authorities act swiftly and decisively to prevent trouble. Yet other trouble is brewing. Young physician and code-breaker Christoval Alvarez stumbles upon a sinister troupe of Italian puppeteers bent on making mischief, but it soon becomes apparent that more than mischief is in the air. Sir Francis Walsingham’s agents are baffled by the ill-assorted conspirators, including one of their own men. Time is running out, and a missing cache of gunpowder cannot be found.
5 – Suffer the Little Children
In Elizabethan London, no child is safe. Children are misused and exploited by parents, masters, strangers, and society at large. Even the children of the rich are in danger. When a five-year-old heiress to great estates is kidnapped, Christoval Alvarez, the players of James Burbage’s company, and a disreputable group of child beggars all become involved in the search. At Seething Lane, matters are approaching a crisis. Sir Francis Walsingham is dying and, as Thomas Phelippes struggles to hold the intelligence service together, he receives information that another attack on the Queen is planned. The identity of the assassin is unknown, but Phelippes does know the place and the date – Whitehall Palace on the day of the Twelfth Night Revels.
8 – That Time May Cease
When the violent arrest of an innocent apprentice sparks a riot in Southwark during the summer of 1592, more lies behind it than a simple grievance. Increasing poverty, vagrancy, and crime in a restless London compel a nervous Privy Council to close the playhouses, forcing Lord Strange’s Men to go on tour, while hostility to foreign refugees, aggravated by Marlowe’s play, The Jew of Malta, adds to the danger on the streets for Strangers like Kit Alvarez. Other dangers are more subtle. The ensnaring of young men by illegal loan sharks and the circulation of damning accusations, both public and private, increase the atmosphere of fear and distrust which permeates a city threatened by twin evils – death of the body from plague, death of the soul from heresy. The performance of the new play of Dr Faustus seems prophetic when it is followed by ‘a great reckoning in a little room’.
9 – The Lopez Affair
When ruthless men are locked in an unremitting struggle for supremacy, even the innocent may become victims. The Earl of Essex, Elizabeth I’s arrogant favourite, will stop at nothing in his greedy pursuit of power, at times heedlessly trying her patience too far. His great rival, Lord Burghley’s son Sir Robert Cecil, is a frail, crippled man, a man Essex believes can be swept aside. But Cecil possesses a brilliant mind and an understanding of statecraft that Essex will never match. Before long Christoval Alvarez is caught up in the complex maze of their intrigues, which lead to violence, injustice, and ultimately a rigged trial and execution.
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