A wonderful, rich, absorbing historical novel following the fortunes of a struggling artist around the courtly world of Elizabethan London.
The wealthiest woman in Christendom, Queen Elizabeth 1, is in 'the force of her middle years'. She and her ensemble tour the kingdom to be among her people, and they come to Norfolk in all their splendour and variety. A promising young painter, Robin Thomas, sees this regal pageant and 'aches' to capture it.
To do so, he sets his sights on a place at the Queen's Court. But, as he finds out all too swiftly on arriving in the teeming City of London, it is by no means easy to gain access to the royal presence, talented portraitist though he may be. After several false starts, he finds an unlikely ally in the comely form of the legendary Kat, whose beauty and wit find noble favour aplenty. It is Kat who unlocks the gates to fame for Robin, and in doing so, they develop a relationship that is complex, intimate and affecting. Together, they storm the fortress Success. Though when they do enter in, all is not quite how they anticipated it . . .
Debut English novelist Sonia Overall thrillingly shepherds her reader into the halls of Elizabethan England: The sights, sounds and smells of country and city are before us in all their ripe power. The drama of the time and the colour of its language, the lives of noblemen and gardeners, painters and courtesans: all are painted afresh here. 'A Likeness' is shiningly vivid, vigorously drawn and deliciously colourful.
