Introduction
Queen Elizabeth’s spymasters recruit an unlikely agent—the only Muslim in England—for an impossible mission in a mesmerizing novel from “one of the best writers in America” (The Washington Post)
The year is 1601. Queen Elizabeth I is dying, childless. Her nervous kingdom has no heir. It is a capital crime even to think that Elizabeth will ever die. Potential successors secretly maneuver to be in position when the inevitable occurs. The leading candidate is King James VI of Scotland, but there is a problem.
The queen’s spymasters—hardened veterans of a long war on terror and religious extremism—fear that James is not what he appears. He has every reason to claim to be a Protestant, but if he secretly shares his family’s Catholicism, then forty years of religious war will have been for nothing, and a bloodbath will ensue. With time running out, London confronts a seemingly impossible question: What does James truly believe?
It falls to Geoffrey Belloc, a secret warrior from the hottest days of England’s religious battles, to devise a test to discover the true nature of King James’s soul. Belloc enlists Mahmoud Ezzedine, a Muslim physician left behind by the last diplomatic visit from the Ottoman Empire, as his undercover agent. The perfect man for the job, Ezzedine is the ultimate outsider, stranded on this cold, wet, and primitive island. He will do almost anything to return home to his wife and son.
Arthur Phillips returns with a unique and thrilling novel that will leave readers questioning the nature of truth at every turn.
Book Club Recommendations
Recommended to book clubs by 1 of 1 members.
Difficult at times, but worth the read.
by thewanderingjew (see
profile) 03/08/21
The King at the Edge of the World, Arthur Phillips, author; Euan Morton, narrator
This is not your run-of-the-mill historic fiction. This novel will confound and please, alternately, as it reveals the lengths to which unscrupulous men will go to accomplish their goals. Using those more honorable than they, they manipulate facts and situations to achieve their purpose. Let the play begin!
In this novel, when an esteemed and respected Turkish doctor, Mahmoud Ezzedine, eminently content with his life, is taken to London, England, on a trip to establish trade with the two countries. He discovers too late that the Ambassador arranged this trip to separate him from his wife and son. The Ambassador had eyes on his wife. Ezzedine believes the Sultan wishes him to go, and he is devoted to him. He would never disobey. Later in life he will wonder if he had, had more courage, would things have evolved differently. He finds himself in a country not as advanced as his own, not as clean as his own and one in which his religion is forbidden. Will he abandon Islam?
When the entourage is scheduled to return home, he is tripped into staying, given as a gift to the Queen, Elizabeth. It seems she is barren, childless and is ill. There is no heir to the throne. Many are attempting to manipulate the situation to get the right person to be next in line. King James VI, is the heir, and is supposedly Protestant, but both his parents were Catholic . His mother, Mary, was beheaded. Is he truly a Protestant or a secret Catholic?
As the time and years passed, the doctor is gifted twice more to different patrons. The final one is the piece de resistance. He is to be the lynch-pin in the process to decide who is the rightful heir. He is to play a role in finding out whether or not King James is a practicing Protestant as he claims. He is to be planted in the King's Court, assigned to get close to him and discover the truth. The stage is set for him, but before he agrees to play his part, he extracts a promise to be returned home when his task is completed. During his time in England, he has changed his name to Matthew Thatcher, he has converted and shaved his beard, he has eaten forbidden foods, but now, he wishes to try to find his family once again.
Will Ezzedine succeed in finding out the true religion of James? Will he ever get home? Will he be guilty of Apostasy and be punished or killed? Will he get a hero’s welcome for doing the Sultan’s bidding, although, with the passage of time, a Sultan has passed, as well, and a new man is on the throne. The reader will be left with questions at the end of this confusing but interesting novel. When all men are scheming, and none are telling the truth, how does one know the real story? As the chess game proceeds, it is impossible to guess. Ezzedine was a man without a country. He was in a place with no protection or support. The plot and the conclusion are the subject of conjecture. What force or which person will move it in one direction or another and be successful.
