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.