The Other Gwyn Girl
Synopsis of The Other Gwyn Girl
1671 – London
The Civil War is over and Charles II, the ‘Merry Monarch’, is revelling in the throne of his murdered father and all the privileges and power that comes with it. Sharing the spoils is his favourite companion, the celebrated beauty, actress Nell Gwyn. Beloved of the English people, Nell has come a long way from selling oranges and a childhood in a brothel, but as her fortunes have turned, her sister Rose has taken a different path. Marriage to a feckless highwayman has left Rose in the grim Marshalsea prison and now she needs her sister’s mercy to help get her out. But Nell needs Rose too. A plot to steal the Crown Jewels has gone tragically wrong, and Nell’s future with her protector King is at risk. If Rose can’t solve the riddle of the jewels both Gwyn sisters will head straight to the Tower.
Present Day
Librarian and history enthusiast Jess Yates has hit rock bottom. With her ex behind bars for fraud, Jess needs to lay low – easier said than done with a celebrity sister. But Tavy has her uses. Her latest TV project involves renovating Fortune Hall, and she needs a house sitter while she’s jetting around the world. The opportunity is too good to miss, especially when Jess discovers that Fortune Hall has links to the infamous Nell Gwyn.
Slowly the house begins to reveal its mysteries, and secrets that have laid buried for centuries can no longer be ignored. Jess hears echoes from a tragic past and as she struggles to understand her sister, Jess feels ever closer to Rose Gwyn, the sister forgotten by history but who had the fate of her family in her hands.
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Reviews of The Other Gwyn Girl
“This novel was such a wild ride from the start and I could not put it down." Heidi Malagisi, Adventures of a Tudor Book Nerd.
"Raise your hand if you realized royal mistress Nell Gwyn had an older sister. If not, you’re not alone. Nicola Cornick has a knack for taking interesting women from history’s sidelines, digging into the limited facts on their lives, and weaving them into compelling dual-narrative plots." Sarah Johnson, HNS
In the seventeenth-century storyline, which was my favourite (unsurprisingly), and Rose makes for a sympathetic heroine with generally poor taste in men. This said, I very much enjoyed the character of Colonel Guy Forster, who is kind and dutiful (and very likeable!). I also loved cameos of famous c17 persons such as Elias Ashmole and Thomas Blood: great fun for a Stuart fan.
By the novel’s end, I was sad to leave these characters, whose stories were artfully and beautifully crafted. I didn’t want the stories to conclude, so much had I become enveloped in a dual-time world only Nicola Cornick could have created. Brava! 17th century Lady
What a spellbinding dual timeline gem! Cindy L Spear
The Other Gwyn Girl is a brilliant insight into the lives of two women who were separated by time but alike in so many ways and how, in the end, love and family are your best weapons. It’s a compelling novel with heartbreaking moments mixed with triumphant ones and tells us that you have the chance to make your own destiny.
Nicola Cornick has once again given us a fantastic historical novel. Can’t wait for what comes next! Novel Kicks
Extract from The Woman in the Lake
Extract from Chapter 6
The lid of the box lifted away to reveal layers of tissue paper with a neat cut sliced through them. On top was a piece of thick, cream-colour writing paper, folded in half, covered with Sarah’s imperious handwriting. It felt very odd to see it now, her grandmother speaking to her from beyond the grave when she had barely spoken to her at all in the last twelve years of her life.
“Fenella.
“This is yours. Do with it what you think best but be aware of the danger.”
The note was unsigned.
Fen’s heart started to race. She knew at once what “this” was.
Carefully and with hands that shook, she unfolded the rustling layers of tissue paper. A faint smell came from the box – lavender, conjuring up the memory of her grandmother’s garden in the summer and the sun on hot stone, and mothballs, a pungent smell she had always hated. Her fingers brushed something soft and smooth, silk, aged and pale yet still retaining the shimmer of gold.
A sensation shot through her, recognition and dread and a strange sort of excitement.
The golden gown came free of its wrappings with a whisper of sound that was like the past stirring. It felt as though it sighed, shivering in Fen’s hands. Unconsciously, she held it close to her heart in exactly the same way she had done in her bedroom fourteen years before.
She had had no idea that her grandmother had known about the golden gown. When she had left Swindon she had abandoned it in the bottom of her wardrobe underneath her sports kit and her hockey stick. It felt like something she had outgrown along with her childhood. She needed to leave it behind and move on.
She wondered if Sarah had found the gown when she had packed up to move back to her native Norfolk. It was odd that she had said nothing at the time, but then they had not really been on speaking terms.
Fen picked up her grandmother’s note again, frowning a little.
“This is yours. Do with it what you think best but be aware of the danger.”
What on earth had Sarah meant by that?
Fen knew all about danger. She had an intimate, atavistic relationship with it that raised the hairs on the back of her neck. The memory of terror stalked her. She only needed to close her eyes to see each episode unfurl like a film reel. She would be running, tripping in her haste to escape, her heart pounding. Then Jake would catch her. She could feel his grip on her arm, the wrench of her bones as he hauled her back against him and held her close.
“I love you,” he had kept repeating, as though that were a charm that warded off all evil. “I love you so much. I will always love you.”
She never wanted to hear those words again.
She gave a violent shudder and came back to the room and the bright sunshine and the golden gown. How could it be dangerous? It was just a piece of old silk and lace.
END OF EXCERPT