The Path to Somerset

First Place Winner, 2020 Chaucer Award for pre-1750s historical fiction

"The novel's sweeping historic detail and bewitching blend of rivalries and romances will dazzle devotees of Tudor England" - Publishers Weekly

After the tragic romance of Jane the Quene, this second book in the Seymour Saga takes a dark turn through an era in which King Henry VIII descends into cynicism, suspicion, and fits of madness – and in which mistakes mean death.

Edward Seymour’s future is uncertain. Although his sister Jane bore Henry the son he’d sought for twenty years, when she died in childbirth, Henry’s good nature died with her. Now the fiercely ambitious Edward must carve a difficult path through Henry’s shifting principles and wives. Challenged at every turn by his nemesis, Bishop Stephen Gardiner, Edward must embrace ruthlessness in order to safeguard not only his own future but England’s as well.

This is the account of Henry’s tumultuous reign as experienced by enemies whose fierce disputes over religion and common decency fuel epic struggles for the soul of the nation. And for power.

By day, Janet Wertman is a freelance grantwriter for impactful nonprofits. By night, she writes critically acclaimed, character-driven historical fiction - indulging a passion for the Tudor era she had harbored since she was eight years old and her parents let her stay up late to watch The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R. Janet also runs a blog (www.janetwertman.com) where she posts interesting takes on the Tudors and what it's like to write about them.