For fans of Philippa Gregor, Alison Weir and Elizabeth Fremantle, an untold story about how the plot against Anne Boleyn entrapped a gifted young musician. A glamorous queen, a volatile king, a gifted musician concealing a forbidden romance.

Everyone knows Anne Boleyn’s story. No one knows Mark Smeaton’s. On May 17, 1536, a young court musician was executed, accused of adultery and treason with the queen. Most historians believe both he and Anne Boleyn were innocent – victims of Henry VIII’s rage.

Mark Smeaton was a talented performer who rose from poverty to become a royal favourite. He played for the king in private and entertained at sumptuous feasts. He witnessed Anne Boleyn’s astonishing rise and fall – her reign of a thousand days. History tells us little about him, other than noting his confession and execution. The Queen’s Musician imagines his story, as seen from his perspective and that of the young woman who loves him. It all takes place amid the spectacle and danger of the Tudor court.

‘The Queen’s Musician’ is the debut novel from the pen of American-based author, Martha Jean Johnson. She has used the inclusion technique to present her story; we join Mark Smeaton briefly in the present tense but he tells his story looking back at his time in the service of Cardinal Wolsey and then as a court musician. At the end, we again join him in the present. He shares the narrative with Margaret ‘Madge’ Shelton, who is a lady-in-waiting to her cousin, Anne Boleyn, both before Anne’s marriage and after she becomes queen.

The author doesn’t have the advantage of surprise, as any fans of Tudor history will know the outcome of Mark getting caught up in the machinations of Thomas Cromwell. However, she has presented a very believable story about two significant figures at court who have largely escaped scrutiny. Very little evidence exists about Mark Smeaton’s early life and he is very much the fifth man in terms of the pedigree of those who were found guilty of high treason. Mark was possibly the son of a carpenter of Flemish-French birth. Martha Jean Johnson has given him a plausible backstory and he comes across as a character with which we have sympathy. We know he was an outstanding musician or he wouldn’t have reached the dizzy heights of playing for the king and queen. He’s portrayed as honest, caring and somewhat naïve. Certainly the author has made up her mind that he was no more than a pawn in the game of a desperate queen and a king who wanted rid of her.

History gives us little factual information about Madge. The author has decided she is gentle, honest and romantic but this is bound up with a sense of duty. She will agree to marry a partner picked for her by the Boleyn family to consolidate their position in the court of Henry VIII, which was perfectly normal for the time.

The story is written in American-English and probably aimed at an international audience, most of whom will not question this. As a British reader reviewing a book centred on English history, I did find some of the spelling a little incongruous but that’s purely a personal observation.

The background research necessary to weave together fact and fiction has been extremely well done with all the relevant ambitious historical players in place. Alongside them we have a few fictitious characters, most of whom have malicious intent and this definitely spices up the story. The scene-setting was excellent and I particularly enjoyed the descriptive passages of the palaces and gardens. The dynamic between Mark and Madge was sensitively handled and the touching friendship between Mark and Paul was very moving.

The intrigue of the time is captured with rivalries and jealousies much in evidence. I think I hated everyone I was supposed to hate and had sympathy for those who were dispatched on the whim of an increasingly tyrannical monarch. I award five stars.

Martha Jean Johnson is a writer of fiction and non-fiction and the author of a series of books and articles on public opinion and public policy. The Queen’s Musician is her debut novel. She also reviews trends in historical fiction and discusses her own love of reading and writing in her biweekly blog, Historical Magic.

She currently divides her time between writing and her work with the National Issues Forums Institute, an organization that encourages civil discourse and nonpartisan deliberation on national and local issues. During a long public policy career, she analyzed and reported on American public thinking, working with noted social analyst and public opinion pioneer, Daniel Yankelovich. She has published articles in USA Today and The Huffington Post and appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and PBS.

She is the author of a series of nonfiction paperbacks on major political issues, co-authored with Scott Bittle and published by HarperCollins. She holds degrees from Mount Holyoke College, Brown University, and Simmons College. She lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.