Lightborne

A Novel

Hesse Phillips

• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Year: 2024
• Edition: 0
• eBook ISBN:
  9781639367412
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Historical Fiction
• Index: Literature

A thrilling reimagining of the last days of one of the most famed Elizabethan playwrights—Christopher Marlowe—and of a love that flourishes within the margins. Christopher Marlowe: playwright, poet, lover. In the plague-stricken streets of Elizabethan England, Kit flirts with danger, leaving a trail of enemies and old flames in his wake. His plays are a roaring success; he seems destined for greatness.But in the spring of 1593, the queen's eyes are everywhere and the air is laced with paranoia. Marlowe receives an unwelcome visit from his one-time mentor, Richard Baines, a man who knows all of Marlowe's secrets and is hell-bent on his destruction.When Marlowe is arrested on charges of treason, heresy, and sodomy—all of which are punishable by death—he is released on bail with the help of Sir Thomas Walsingham. Kit presumes Walsingham to be his friend; in fact, the spymaster has hired an assassin to take care of Kit, fearing that his own sins may come to light.Now, with the queen's spies and the vengeful Baines closing in on the playwright, Marlowe's last friend in the world is Ingram Frizer, a total stranger who is obsessed with Kit's plays, and who will, within ten days' time, first become Marlowe's lover—and then his killer. Richly atmospheric, emotionally devastating, and heartrendingly imagined, Lightborne is a masterful reimagining of the last days of one of England's most famous literary figures.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Prologue: 6 June 1588: Four Years, Eleven Months, Twenty-Four Days
• 6 May 1593: Twenty-Four Days
• 18 May 1593: Twelve Days
• 21 May 1593: Nine Days
• >22 May 1593: Eight Days
• 23 May 1593: Seven Days
• 26 May 1593: Four Days
• 27 May 1593: Three Days
• 28 May 1593: Two Days
• 29 May 1593: One Day
• 30 May 1593: Zero
• 28 June 1593: Day Twenty-Nine
• Chapter 34
• Epilogue
• Author’s Note
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• Copyright