The Spy

The Spy is a masterfully composed novel, shrewdly and elegantly written, in the tradition of Iain Pears and Umerto Eco. Leslie Silbert transports the reader from sixteenth-century England to contemporary Manhattan, London and Italy.
During her first assignment, Kate is given a yellowed manuscript, written in an unknown language. The man who tried to steal it has paid for it with his life. Kate suspects that this document belonged to the person who founded the first English secret service in the sixteenth century. Spies, or spies, were tasked with protecting the head of state. This also applies to the young poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe - contemporary and rival of Shakespeare - who died a mysterious death. Although centuries old, the secrets in the document could still discredit the current royal family and the English government. As Kate unravels old mysteries, she fails to notice the dangers lurking in her own world.