The Masquerade

Nicholas Griffin

Off the coast of Liguria 1713 - accompanied by his valet Thomas Noon and tutor Lucius Jelbourne young aristocrat Lord Stilwell is bound for Genoa and that essential part of an English gentleman's education; the Grand Tour of Italy. Jelbourne has long been wary of Noon: his standing at Dengby Hall his relationship with Stilwell and his intelligence do not tally with his role as a servant. Noon likewise is suspicious of Jelbourne: why does Stilwell's tutor enjoy better hospitality than Stilwell himself? And why when Jelbourne is purchasing Italian pictures supposedly a century old is the paint still fresh?
The English who visit eighteenth-century Italy normally consider it only for its past: Jelbourne as Noon is to discover is different. For there is a new king on the throne of England - a German a protestant - and not all of his subjects are loyal. As the Grand Tour weaves its way to Venice Rome and Naples Noon finds himself drawn into a deadly world of intrigue and double lives: a world where nothing and no-one are as they seem. And though Noon would like to unmask the mysterious Jelbourne his attentions are drawn to the delectable Natalia Silver and the unmistakable lure of love . . .

THE MASQUERADE is a sophisticated literary thriller that confirms Nicholas Griffin's growing reputation as one our finest exponents of historical fiction.

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