As captivating now as it was more than four centuries ago, the reign of Elizabeth Iwith its scandal, intrigue, and resiliencehas sparked the imaginations of generations. In her sweeping historical debut, Ella March Chase explores a thrilling possibility: that the Tudor bloodline did not end with the Virgin Queen.Tucked away in the country estate of her beloved father, Lord Calverley, young Nell de Lacey feeds her hungry mind with philosophy, language, and studies of science. Her mother, once a devoted lady-in-waiting to Henry VIIIs last wife, Katherine Parr, would rather her daughter stop dabbling in the grand affairs of men and instead prepare for her eventual duties as a wife. She knows all too well what menace lurks in royal courts.But Nells heart yearns for something more, and a chance meeting with Princess Elizabeth, then a prisoner of the Tower of London, pushes her closer toward finding it. Now, years later, Nells chance arrives when she is summoned to serve as a lady-in-waiting to the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth. Nell is entranced by the splendor and pageantry of royal life, unaware of the danger and deception that swirls around the monarch and her courtiers. But a lingering rumor about nine unaccounted for months in the Virgin Queens past reignites when the flame-haired Nella mirror image of Her Majesty both physically and intellectuallyarrives at court. Quickly she catches the eye not only of the cunning Elizabeth, but of those who would see the queen fail. With strong evidence to connect Elizabeth to her newest maid of honor and the politics of England in turmoil, the truth could send Nell and those she loves to the Tower to join in the wretched fates of those whove gone before her.Engrossing and enlightening, The Virgin Queens Daughter brings to life one of the greatest mysteries of one of the greatest monarchs. Ella March Chases vivid storytelling gives due credence to a daughter who might have been and a mother who never was.From the Hardcover edition.