salisbury, robert cecil

Chief Intelligencer John Shakespeare, the bard's younger brother, is summoned out of retirement back to the dangerous intrigues of the palace when a plot against the aging Queen Elizabeth I causes her to be targeted by two of England's most powerful men.

Sir Robert Cecil, an advisor to King James I in 1603, confides in his gardener John Tradescant about the political and social changes that he has to face in the King's court.