The Tsar’s Locket – a Review

It is August of 1581 in London, England. Those who are Catholic are not looked upon favorably. Why not? Because it was thought that Catholics were more loyal to the pope than to the queen.

Julian Blunt is a despised Catholic, having been relieved of the command of his ship because of it. So he is more than a bit surprised when he is met at his wife’s grave in a desolate cemetery by the queen’s men. They take him to see the queen, who, once he swears his loyalty to her, wants him to go on a mission. Julian doesn’t realize it, but this mission will be filled with war, battles, danger, intrigue, and spies.

What is this mission? He is to sail to Russia to help deliver a locket to the tsar. This locket contains the image of an Englishwoman who will marry Ivan the Terrible. But there are those who don’t want the locket delivered to the tsar. They don’t want the union between Russia and England that such a match would bring.

He boards the Catamount to be the translator for the tsar of Russia. When another man on the ship figures out Julian is a papist and swears to kill him, he must be on guard for attacks. Not only that, there is a spy aboard the ship with orders to do steal what is intended for the tsar. And he will kill if necessary.

Jess Calcross, who is aboard this ship bound for Russia, is masquerading as a man.

Rosalind, Jess’s cousin, is poisoned while on the Catamount. The doctor in the Danish city where they leave her to recover intends to bleed her if none of the medicine he gives her works.

Fighting between the Swedes, the Germans, and the Russians in the Russian city of Narva—and these people would just as soon fight them—made their trip extremely hazardous, almost deadly.

Once Jess and Julian arrive in Moscow—they have been separated and each arrive there in a different way—their lives are in peril. Their journey against the backdrop of Russia in the late 1500s is truly astounding. The author’s description of the people, the buildings, and the architecture as well as the events makes this story hard to put down.

The historical events this story is based on were thrilling enough to keep my interest, but I really wanted to find out what happened with Julian and Jessandra. Even though they don’t really exist, their characters are developed to such an extent I felt like I knew them. They are two characters that I will never forget.

Interesting Historical Tidbits:

Before sailing to Russia, they had to obtain a map. Getting your hands on a map wasn’t as easy then as it is today. There wasn’t a Google maps site. The internet wasn’t around yet, and you couldn’t just go to the store and buy one. Your map had to be drawn by hand. If just one mistake was made, it would have to be scrapped and a new map started.

In The Tsar’s Locket, Julian and Jess had dinner with Ivan the Terrible. That would have beeb quite the experience.  One of the dishes served at this dinner was roasted swan. This, of course, made me curious as to why swans aren’t eaten now.

WHY DON’T WE EAT SWANS?

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you would like your own copy, I’ve provided an Amazon link to the book for you below.

Amazon Link: The Tsar’s Locket

Favorite Sentences:

As he swung toward an alleyway, his feet skidded through a slimy coating of rotting food and night soil.

Julian felt like a terrier worrying a bit of grisly meat and not wanting to let go.

A noise woke Jess, panting, from a scabrous netherworld where nightmares scratched bony fingers inside her skull.

There was no way to know, except that time dragged like a ponderous anchor on an endless chain winched from the depths of a bottomless sea.

For a terrifying moment she felt as though she was falling out of the cooking pot and into the fire.

New Words Learned:

abstemious – marked by restraint especially in the eating of food or drinking of alcohol

animus – strong dislike or enmity; hostile attitude; animosity

arabesque – a sinuous, spiraling, undulating, or serpentine line or linear motif

arbalest – a powerful medieval crossbow with a steel bow, used to shoot stones, metal balls, arrows, etc.

arquebus – any of several small-caliber long guns operated by a matchlock or wheel-lock mechanism, dating from about 1400

bilge water – water which enters a ship and lies upon her bilge or bottom. If allowed to remain, it acquires and offensive penetrating smell

boyar – Russian History. a member of the old nobility of Russia, before Peter the Great made rank dependent on state service

ceruse – a cosmetic containing white lead

churl – a rude, boorish, or surly person

carrack – a merchant vessel having various rigs, used especially by Mediterranean countries in the 15th and 16th centuries; galleon

corbel – a short horizontal timber supporting a girder

culverin – a kind of heavy cannon used in the 16th and 17th centuries

farthingale – a hoop skirt or framework for expanding a woman’s skirt, worn in the 16th and 17th centuries

gonfalon – a banner suspended from a crossbar, often with several streamers or tails

goutweed – a fast-spreading weed, Aegopodium podagraria, of the parsley family, native to Eurasia, having umbels of white flowers.

groat – a silver coin of England, equal to four pennies, issued from 1279 to 1662

grosgrain – a heavy, corded ribbon or cloth of silk or rayon

hurdy-gurdy – a stringed instrument in which sound is produced by the friction of a rosined wheel turned by a crank against the strings and the pitches are varied by keys

iconostasis – a partition or screen on which icons are placed, separating the sanctuary from the main part of the church

jerkin – a close-fitting jacket or short coat, usually sleeveless, as one of leather worn in the 16th and 17th centuries

kersey – a heavy wool or wool and cotton fabric used especially for uniforms and coats

limner – a person who paints or draws

machicolation – an opening in the floor between the corbels of a projecting gallery or parapet, as on a wall or in the vault of a passage, through which missiles, molten lead, etc., might be cast upon an enemy beneath

manchet – a kind of white bread made from the finest flour

martinet – a strict disciplinarian, especially a military one

matchlock – a musket equipped with a matchlock, a slow-burning match lowered over a hole in the breech of a musket to ignite the charge

nostrum – a medicine

nuncio – a diplomatic representative of the pope at a foreign court or capital: equal in status to an ambassador

palisade – any of a number of pales or stakes pointed at the top and set firmly in the ground in a close row with others to form a defense

panagia – a medallion bearing the image of the Virgin Mary

papist – Roman Catholic

pestiferous – pernicious; evil

quagmire – an area of miry or boggy ground whose surface yields under the tread; a bog

saltarello – a lively Italian dance for one person or a couple

saraband – a slow, stately Spanish dance, especially of the 17th and 18th centuries, in triple meter, derived from a vigorous castanet dance

scut – (slang) a worthless, contemptible person

shako – a military cap in the form of a cylinder or truncated cone, with a visor and a plume or pompon

skirl – In Scotland and Northern England, any shrill sound, esp. that coming from bagpipes

Sumptuary Laws – laws that try to regulate consumption. Historically, they were intended to regulate and reinforce social hierarchies and morals through restrictions on clothing, food, and luxury expenditures, often depending on a person’s social rank.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumptuary_law

sticharion – a white tunic of silk or linen, corresponding to the alb, worn by deacons, priests, and bishops

strumpet – a prostitute

taffrail – a rail above the stern of a ship

tattoo – a rapid rhythmic rapping

troika – a Russian carriage, wagon, or sleigh drawn by a team of three horses abreast

wherry – any of various barges, fishing vessels, etc., used locally in England

worrying – seizing with the teeth and shaking or mangling

About the Author:

Ken Czech has been teaching and writing about history since the 1970s and has taught in both secondary schools and in higher education. The author of numerous magazine and scholarly journal articles, his books have won the Minnesota Book Award and the Chicago Public Library Reading Round Table Award. But his love of history has shifted his focus from non-fiction to writing historical novels. Beyond the River of Shame, his debut novel, is the fictionalized story of a real Victorian-era hero, Sir Samuel White Baker, and the woman he saves from slavery during his quest to discover the source of the Nile River.