The Lady of Blossholme
First sentence
Who that has ever seen them can forget the ruins of Blossholme Abbey, set upon their mount between the great waters of the tidal estuary to the north, the rich lands and grazing marshes that, backed with woods, border it east and south, and to the west by the rolling uplands, merging at last into purple moor, and, far away, the sombre eternal hills!...
Description
Historical novel set in England circa 1536; woman centric, anti Catholic. Time of the Pilgrimage of Grace and the beginning of the dissolution of the monasteries. Cameo appearances by King Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell and Jane Seymour, future (third) wife of Henry VIII and Queen of England. The story is pretty much like any of Rider Haggard's, except that there are no lost lands or empires, no magic or witchcraft. There is a treasure in jewellery. Good for girls of ages between thirteen and fifteen.