TESTIMONIALS
“So few historical novels actually manage to capture the feel of an age. . . . Three things that really lift this book up: One, the writing: sharp, lively, tight, it draws you in and zips along. Two, the historical detail: the author is a professional historian and it shows – in a good way. … And three, what will stay with me the longest: the really vividly conjured sense of what it was actually like to live under a regime of religious persecution. The Catholic characters at the heart of the book, and also the Protestant characters recalling earlier ages’ persecutions (a minor but crucial theme of the book), give you a truly compelling sense of living against a background of fear, of endlessly making choices that will probably be safe but could always be lethal, of the fragile consolations people reach for to tell themselves that everything will be all right when they are well aware that it might not be. And yet finding a way of actually living despite it all. It’s haunting but also, in the end, unmistakably hopeful – and that really is a tough trick to pull off.” – excerpt from Good Reads review by Alec Ryrie, Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham University and a licensed lay preacher in the Church of England; author of Unbelievers: An Emotional History of Doubt
“The Guest of Night is a thrilling tale filled with adrenaline, courage, and lessons in wisdom. Read by the author herself, one is transported into Elizabethan England. Lucy Underwood-Healy’s narration is expressive, and draws the listener further into the story, to sympathize and admire all that our Catholic ancestors suffered for the sake of Christ, of truth, and of love.” -Thérèse Judeana, author of Ransom: Shadow of An Empire
“The book that took me by surprise was this belting Tudor thriller / rite of passage story . . . [The Guest of Night].” – Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Children’s Laureate and Carnegie Medal (2004)
“Lucy Underwood Healy writes with impressive lucidity and authenticity. From the very beginning of The Guest of Night, we are immersed in a world of dangerous intrigue, rich historical detail and acute observation. She has created a cast of full-blooded characters whose story will absorb and engage us.” – Nick Warburton, Winner of the BBC/Radio Times Drama Award, the Sandford St Martin Award and the Tinniswood Award