An Elizabethan at heart, Frances Gorges is forced to spend time at the Jacobean court of King James I. Much preferring to spend time in her herb garden at her home in Hampshire, Frances feels claustrophobic at the court at Whitehall and her role as lady-in-waiting to the young Princess Elizabeth places her very firmly at the heart of intrigue. Her growing friendship with the enigmatic courtier Tom Wintour will place Frances in a very precarious position and her skill with healing brings her into dangerous contact with the King as he continues his quest to rid England of its multitude of witches.

I’m a bit late to the party with this one as, I’m sorry to say, it has languished on my Kindle since its publication but I’m really pleased to have discovered the story now. Beautifully written and meticulously researched, this is the first in a trilogy of novels which feature this bold and feisty heroine. I enjoyed getting to know Frances Gorges in this first book which sets the scene and brings to life the dangerous, and decadent, Jacobean court. Placing the book very firmly at the start of the reign of James I will allow the series to progress and I especially enjoyed learning more about the Gunpowder Plot which features very strongly in The King's Witch.

Not only is Borman a fantastic historian anc writer of nonfiction shes also managed to do the same in her fiction. It hooks you from the start and is hard to put down

I really enjoyed the historical and political aspects of the story. While it was slow to start there was a lot of detail, King James, the healing/herbalism, the Gunpowder plot. and I got caught up in it.

I really enjoyed this book, took a little getting used to however once I got into it I really liked it!

Thank you Netgalley for a review copy of this book for an impartial review

It took me a while to get round to this book, I think, because of it's boring book covers - did look very like lots of others in the historical fiction range so did not appeal to me.
However, this was an easy and included some intrigue and suspense. The characters were all a bit flat though and the main character was not as brave as she should have been - she was a bit of a walkover for someone so different in her time. I Did like the ties that the story line had to the Gunpowder Plot though as not many fiction books have been written around that time.

This was such a good historical fiction. I really appreciated that Tracy Borman didn't set this directly in the Tudor period but slightly after when James I takes over. Frances was such an interesting and well-rounded character and you can see how she grows and develops as the novel progresses. The power battles that occur within it are played to highlight the drama and the building up of the plot is done in a way that shows Borman's craft. I'm super excited for the second book in this series and see where Frances goes after the gunpowder plot failed.

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Tracy Borman’s first novel, The King’s Witch through NetGalley.

I have often read and enjoyed Tracy Borman’s non-fiction works. Indeed, her book on Matilda of Flanders, queen of William the Conqueror, was very helpful in my research for my own books, Heroines of the Medieval World and Silk and the Sword: the Women of the Norman Conquest. However, there is a great difference in writing non-fiction and fiction and not every author can make the jump. As a result I was unsure what tot expect from The King’s Witch but discovered that Tracy Borman has managed to create a masterpiece of literary fiction at the first attempt.

Set in the court of James VI and I shortly after his arrival in England, The King’s Witch weaves a wonderful tale of love, intrigue, betrayal and suspense, set against the backdrop of the king’s obsession with eradicating witchcraft within his realm and the persecution of catholics. The officers of the old regime of Elizabeth I are trying to curry favour with the new king by taking on his obsessions and making them their own, so that those out of favour are hunted on every side.

As curator of the Historic Royal Palaces, Tracy Borman uses the wealth of inside knowledge and information she has acquired to vividly recreate the world of early Stuart Britain in vibrant detail. She breathes life into her characters, both historical and invented, so that it is impossible to tell where the fact ends and the fiction begins. Her expertise is demonstrated not only in court etiquette, dress and manners, but also in the seedier side of Stuart Britain, in the treatment and punishment of prisoners, the oppression of catholic families and priests. The extent of research the author pursued in the writing of the book is demonstrated in the knowledge of herbs and their healing qualities, and how a girl may gain and use the knowledge to help others, if not always successfully.

The heroine of the story, Frances Gorges, as lady-in-waiting to King James’ pampered daughter, Elizabeth, has to navigate the Stuart court, despite being suspected as a witch by the king’s chief adviser, Robert Cecil. A skilled healer, Frances’ kind and trusting nature is tested to the extremes. While her skill with herbs and healing leads her into a dark place, her love for one of the men of the court leads her into the heart of a dangerous conspiracy and she doesn’t know who to trust. As the story unfolds, the reader is taken on a journey into the heart of a plot could change the course of history….

Tracy Borman has succeeded wonderfully in attaining that often difficult balance with historical fiction, of keeping to the historical fact while weaving an enchanting story which will keep the reader gripped to the very last page. Her obvious expertise in the era means that she is able to get into the heads of the characters she is depicting, thus relating their thoughts feelings and motivations with an uncanny accuracy which serves to transport the reader back in time, to the court and country of James VI and I. The author accurately depicts the sense of unease and apprehension at the change in regime from Elizabethan to Jacobean, demonstrating the distrust and unfamiliarity that accompanies the Scottish king to his new court; and conflict between those who find favour with the new king and those who hanker after the times and tolerance of the old queen, Elizabeth I.

Tracy Borman’s heroine, Frances Gorges, must traverse this difficult terrain of shifting allegiances and changing favourites, searching for a way to survive the plots and machinations of those who would see her fall. The King’s Witch is an exquisitely crafted novel, recreating the essence of Stuart Britain in wonderful detail.

The King’s Witch follows young noblewoman Frances Gorges as she navigates the transition from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I to that of King James I. Frances was a favourite of the old Queen, and her skills in herbalism and healing were called upon to aid the ailing ruler in her final days – but the new King is on a witch hunt, sanctioned by God, and when Frances is thrust into court by her uncle, she unwittingly becomes a target. Serving as a companion for King James’s daughter, she finds herself a favourite of the young princess and her mother – but the Lord Privy Seal’s loathing for Frances and her family and his desperation to secure favour from the new King put Frances and those she loves in peril.

He forces Frances to watch the hanging of a witch, and it’s the single most upsetting scene in this entire book.

Now I’ll admit, while I love history this is not a period I know a HUGE amount about, other than the details of witch-hunting (on which I have, for my own purposes, done quite a bit of research as of late). A Tudor fan in school, I comparatively know very little about the ruler that followed and the goings-on of his court. Borman is a historian, and from her writing you can tell she has a wealth of knowledge about the era – foods, clothes, makeup, all are painstakingly rendered real through Frances’s eyes. There were a few moments where the extent of the focus on these minor aspects began to shift it from fiction to historical, but more often than not they served to aid the story as opposed to hinder its telling. This attention to detail paid off in full when we as readers are first witness to the decadence and hypocrisy of King James’s court. A man with often puritanical beliefs and laws, we see his parties filled with salaciously clad guests – most memorably a woman wearing a large ribbon who is shortly thereafter very naked – and his young, handsome favourites openly spending more time in the company (and bed) of the King than his wife the Queen. King James is portrayed in a thoroughly unflattering light. Physically unattractive, rude, cruel and vulgar. His reaction to his wife’s miscarriage is one of disgust and loathing, and his invasive involvement in trialling witches is downright sinister. It suddenly became much more understandable that people had tried to kill him.

More on that later on.

Poor Frances just wanted to grow plants. We see at the novel’s opening a young woman whose passion for helping others and favour in the Queen’s eyes have allowed her to remain somewhat naive and sheltered even as she grew up in court. She is content in her home grounds, helping those who fall sick in the village nearby, aided by a priest whose own passion for healing nurtured and informed her own. However, even before the Queen’s death, things were changing in court – and all too soon Frances is just another pawn in the political machinations therein. Suspicion turns to outright accusation, and we see the true trials of a suspected witch.

Frances, once accused, is tested for ‘witch marks’, humiliated and possibly assaulted. She is deprived of sleep, slapped and stripped of her dignity – and her clothing – in search of the devil’s handiwork, left bleeding and full of hatred in the Tower of London before her release – ironically – because she may be the only person who can heal the ailing princess.

Now all of this happened by the time I was halfway through the book, so obviously I was a little confused. It’s called the King’s Witch, she’s been released, is she accused again?

And then it dawned on me.

It was the early 1600s.

It was King James.

In what can only be described as a ‘HOLY SHIT’ moment of realisation, I recalled through years of fireworks displays in cold fields exactly why we have bonfires on the 5th November.

Someone was going to try and blow up the King of England.

What’s more, he was awful so by this stage you actually want them to succeed. Which is weird given that I grew up in a country that joyously sets fire to scarecrow versions of one of the perpetrators every year to celebrate how they failed. And you know they fail, which makes it hurt more.

Now aside from Guy Fawkes – whose name has been made infamous by the whole ‘remember remember the fifth of November’ thing – I had no idea what any of them were called. Only that they were hung, drawn and quartered (or more accurately, drawn, hung and quartered). So there I was, pausing every few minutes to google a name that sounded vaguely familiar and see if they were eventually executed for treason. This did take away from the immersion somewhat, as I got the impression I was already supposed to know the significance of the name ‘Thomas Wintour’ when he showed up.

At first the pacing was a little slow, and it took me a while to get into this book. Once she was at court, however, I read the rest very quickly! It was a real page-turner towards the end, with the gunpowder plot in full swing and Frances navigating a world where she has been tainted by her trials as a witch. Apparently this is the first of a trilogy. Would I read the rest? Yes probably, I enjoyed the book well enough to be interested in more of Frances’s life, so who knows you might be seeing reviews of those in future!

Overall while I did greatly enjoy this book towards the end, it took me a little while to get into at first. I would recommend this book to fans of historical fiction, and if you struggle with the beginning do stick with it! Honestly, it might just have been me changing genre

Lady Frances Gorges has been encouraged by her parents to learn the art of healing and she is present at the death of Queen Elizabeth. however when King James ascends to the throne Frances' skills could see her accused of witchcraft and so her family decides to keep her at their country house. Unfortunately her Uncle is in a position of power and sees Frances as a pawn in his ambitions so she is brought to court to serve young Princess Elizabeth. This brings her into contact with a young lawyer, Thomas, whom she falls for but also into conflict with Cecil who is keen to find witches and treason at every corner.
Tracy Borman is an excellent historian and a writer of engaging yet learned non-fiction so I eagerly picked up this novel. On the positive side I liked the setting around the early days of James' rule and the Gunpowder Plot, this is a period of history which has not often been fictionalised. Borman wears her learning lightly and therefore although the research is clear the writing does not over emphasise historical details unlike many. On the negative side I found the heroine a little insipid and certain plot twists (the witch pricking) somewhat gratuitous. It's a solid historical romance without being memorable.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

I have enjoys enjoyed history, I always want to learn more about what has happened in the world, so a historical fiction always suits my interests. From the title and the blurb I thought that this was going to be a very different book/storyline. It starts off about one thing and surrounding the topic of witchcraft and then wanders very quickly off after an event in the book. It is rarely mentioned again except to describe the King's current mood which is odd to me.

I won't spoil the other direction it takes, but I will say however that I did enjoy the story. A good indicator of whether I enjoy a historical fiction is whether I have to head to Wikipedia to find out what really happened or if I make myself wait because I don't want to spoil the story. I can tell you that at 2am this morning I was googling the characters...

I am not sure how this can be book 1 of 3 though as it seemed to be wrapped up by the ending, although historically I have issues with what happened in the last pages but that is another matter and maybe the 2nd book deals with this?

Tracy Borman has done a good job with this book and had me unable to put the book down!

This is the first novel by historian Tracy Borman, although she has previously written several non-fiction books, none of which I have read. The King’s Witch is set in England in the early 17th century, during the reign of James I (who was also James VI of Scotland), and from the title I was expecting a story of witch trials and burnings, and of innocent women persecuted because of a gift for healing. Well, The King’s Witch does cover those topics, but there is much more to the book than that and I wasn’t surprised to learn that this is the first in a trilogy and another two novels will be needed to finish the storylines begun in this one.

Our heroine – the ‘witch’ of the title – is Frances Gorges, a young noblewoman whom we first meet in 1603 at the bedside of Elizabeth I, helping her mother to nurse the dying queen through her final days. Frances knows how to use herbs to treat illness and provide comfort, but when Elizabeth is succeeded by James, her skills are no longer appreciated. The new king is determined to stamp out witchcraft in his kingdom and women like Frances could become a target. It is decided that she will be safer away from court, so she is sent home to the peace and quiet of Longford, her family’s manor house in Wiltshire.

It’s not long, however, before Frances is summoned back to court where her ambitious uncle, the Earl of Northampton, has secured her a position as maid to the king’s daughter, the young Princess Elizabeth. But court has become a very dangerous place and Frances almost immediately finds herself in conflict with the king’s Lord Privy Seal, Robert Cecil, who is hoping to please the king by hunting down a witch. It’s not just women healers who are under suspicion, though; James also sees Catholics as possible conspirators – and he is right, because a secret plot is taking shape that could bring his reign to an early end.

As I’ve said, the title of this book is slightly misleading. Frances’s knowledge of the properties of herbs and plants and the danger this puts her in with Cecil is certainly an important part of the story, but this is not really a book about witches and witchcraft. I would describe it more as a book about a young woman trying to make her way in a world full of treachery, lies and conspiracies. Most of the second half of the novel is devoted to one of these conspiracies – the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 – and Frances’s own involvement in it. This is what I will remember about this book rather than the witch-hunting aspect, which doesn’t really come to anything.

Although I enjoyed the book overall, the pacing seemed to be a problem for me. The story gets off to a slow start and I felt that I’d been reading for a long time with very little happening; somewhere around the middle of the book when the Gunpowder Plot begins to take shape, I started to find it much more compelling. There is also a romance for Frances with the lawyer Thomas Wintour and I thought this was handled well, especially as Frances – and the reader – begins to have doubts as to whether he can or cannot be trusted.

Frances Gorges was a real historical figure, but she and her family are not characters I have come across before in historical fiction. It seems that very little factual information is available about Frances – I could only find a few basic details online – although more is known about her parents, Thomas Gorges and Helena Snakenborg. The lack of information on Frances must have given Tracy Borman the freedom to use her imagination in building a story around her, without being too restricted by historical fact.

By the end of the novel, there is a lot going on in Frances’s life and I will be interested to see how her story continues in the next two books in the trilogy.

I do love reading historical novels about witches and royalty, and I did like the look of this one, with its lovely red and gold cover. However, although the story started off with a wise woman in the time of King James I (a rather perilous occupation in those days!), it was actually about something else entirely - which I won't mention because of spoilers!

Frances Gorges's parents were courtiers to the old Queen Elizabeth but have fallen out of favour now that James is on the throne. While Frances would have been happy to stay at home growing her flowers and herbs, and concocting potions to heal the sick, her uncle has managed to get her the job of lady-of-the-bedchamber to eight-year-old Princess Elizabeth. Arriving at Court, Frances is immediately plunged into all the political intrigue surrounding the King and is soon forced to choose a side - possibly not the right one! While her uncle wishes her to use this time to make an important marriage that will benefit her family, unfortunately Frances only has eyes for one, very unimportant man - yet is he all that he seems?

The author has included an incredible amount of detail about the way these people lived and I was quickly caught up in their lives. I particularly loved Frances for her forthright opinions, although these soon got her into trouble. Although I don't know much about this time period, I began to recognise some of the characters' names and soon realised where the story was headed! Even though I knew what the outcome would be, I still found the story completely gripping. I think my only niggle was that I'd liked to have known which parts were fiction and which were based on fact. (Google wasn't much help!)

I really enjoyed The King's Witch and could imagine it appealing to fans of authors such as Philippa Gregory. Although readers expecting something more witchy might be disappointed in the way the plot goes in a different direction.


Thank you to Tracy Borman, Hodder & Stoughton, and NetGalley for my copy of this book, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

I was lucky enough to receive an advance review copy of The King's Witch, which will be published in the UK on 14 June 2018.

I was lucky to hear Tracy speak st the historical association conference in Stratford upon Avon. This book was fantastic and I'm glad she's also branched out into historical fiction. Keep it up!

Set in the court of James I of England and VI of Scotland, this book follows lady Frances a lady in waiting to princess Elizabeth, the kings daughter. It's an interesting look at a superstitious and dangerous court.
The beginning was a little slow, but it really picks up and I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy.

The King's Witch,  Tracy Borman

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Historical Fiction

I have an occasional foray into this genre, Tracy Borman is an author new to me but I'll look out for more of her novels. When I'm reading an historical work I want the personalisation, the feeling I understand the characters, to see them in day to day action, and Tracy did that perfectly here for me. I don't work a work of fiction that reads like a text book, but I do want the events and maybe some of the characters surrounding them to be presented as they happened more or less.
Its pretty horrific how we treated people in history ( and sadly in current times too). It never ceases to amaze me how inhumane man can be, how inventive with torture. Reading a reminder of the penalty for treason gave me the usual sick feeling, that people would do all that and expect the result to be genuine, threaten and expect to get the truth. Though really I guess it wasn't truth they wanted, just a list of names to prosecute/persecute. Seeing what happened to Frances and how she came through shows how the system was so skewed against truth.
As well as charting the end of Elizabeth the first and the succession of James 1st (of England & NI) this story covers the persecution of witches, and the still difficult question of religion. No such thing as live and let live then, it was each man out for themselves mostly, with political figures changing stances on everything according to the current climate. A very insecure time to live, especially of someone powerful in court held a grudge.
I loved Frances and her family, her love of healing and helping, her compassion but when witchcraft was being pursued so heavily, with people taking the chance to play out old grudges it was a very dangerous time to have knowledge of simple healing. I've always been attracted to natural remedies and how we discovered them, how people found what worked, how they did things that we would see as plain idiotic and yet they derived strength from them. Sometimes I think we have an innate need to believe in Something, Anything to help with pain, illness, things out of our control.
When it came to making a decision over Tom and his compatriots, whether to do one thing or another, I so felt for her. Each course of action held danger, each held things that went against her nature and it was a very hard decision to take.

It was a fascinating read, felt very true to time period but with that personal touch that makes a story easy to read for me.
I hadn't realised it was a trilogy so look forward to what next for Frances and for England.

Stars:Five, a great read, very real characters, a writing of real events in a way that well could have played out.

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers