'CROWN' JEWEL Bilyeau's debut delivers rich historical fiction and nail-biting thrills

'CROWN' JEWEL Bilyeau's debut delivers rich historical fiction and nail-biting thrills

Book Review

The Crown (2012)

Nancy Bilyeau
Reviewed by Abby West | Jan 11, 2012

Details Release Date: Jan 10, 2012; Writer: Nancy Bilyeau; Genre: Fiction; Publisher: Touchstone

In her debut, The Crown, Bilyeau — a former EW staffer — delivers an engrossing thriller about a 16th-century Dominican novice caught up in royal intrigue. When Joanna Stafford leaves her priory to comfort a cousin who's about to be burned at the stake, she ends up in the middle of the uproar surrounding Henry VIII's decision to shut down England's monasteries — and on a treasure hunt unlike any other, one that reveals secrets about her well-connected family and her faith. If Bilyeau's mystery is occasionally by the numbers, her extensive historical research shines. B+

Originally posted Jan 11, 2012 Published in issue #1190 Jan 20, 2012 Order article reprints
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