After a few pages I was back in 1583. Was it a miracle of time travel? No, I had just started reading Prophecy by S.J. Parris.

I had read the first book in this series (Heresy) which introduced me to Giordano Bruno, a renagade Italian monk who fled to England to avoid the wrath of The Inquisition. He was a free-thinker and philosopher and the Pope wanted him burned at the stake as a heretic. Much to my surprise I later learned that Giordano Bruno was a real person and he did flee the heresy charges but was eventually arrested by The Inquisition, declared a heretic and burned at the stake. And he was really in England for several years (including 1583) during his years between the fleeing and the execution. I thoroughly enjoyed this historical novel/thriller based on this character.

When I saw the second in this series by S.J Parris was coming out in a few months, I managed to get an Advance Reader’s Copy (ARC) of Prophecy. As mentioned at the beginning of the review, the author does a wonderful job of setting the stage and transporting you back to the time period. Much more important than adjusting to life with no cars, no TV, and even no internet is the texture of life with the importance of being Catholic or Protestant, superstition, astrology, and so forth.

The story is set in 1583, the year of the Great Conjunction, when the two most powerful planets, Jupiter and Saturn, align in a certain way, an astrologi­cal event that occurs about once every thousand years and was thought to herald the end of one age and the start of another. All sorts of things could happen, maybe even the death of Queen Elizabeth.

When one of the queen’s maids of honor is killed, Francis Walsingham “spymaster” of the Queen asks Giordano Bruno to help solve the crimes. Bruno must allow the plot to progress far enough to give the queen the proof she needs but in doing so may allow the plot to go too far and result in the death of the Queen.

And although historical fiction does have an interest in itself, it is also very relevant to modern day dilemmas. Walsingham uses methods which would seem to be inconsistent with Elizabeth’s desired openness and tolerance. A dilemma in modern day democracy is how far you should go using methods inconsistent with your values to ensure the survival of your government and values. The police certainly want to prevent crime and terrorism but when they discover plots need to let them go far enough that they are sure they are right and maybe even convict the guilty.

The writing of S. J. Parris and her remarkable sense of place and time make both books stories worth reading. Heresy is now available in paperback and Prophecy is scheduled to be out in March in the UK and Australia but May in the US.