SEASON-HANDBOOK-2020-2021-Electronic

Cultural

MARCH 10, 2021 THE KING AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD by Arthur Phillips The year is 1601. Queen Elizabeth I is dying, childless. Her nervous kingdom has no heir. It is a capital crime to even think that Elizabeth will ever die. Potential successors secretly maneuver to be in position when the inevitable occurs. The leading candidate is King James VI of Scotland, but there is a problem. Is he a Catholic or a Protestant? If Catholic, the country will return to bloody civil wars, which ended when the Protestant Elizabeth secured the Church of England as the one true faith. It falls to Geoffrey Belloc, a secret warrior from the hottest days of England’s religious battles, to devise a test to discover the true nature of King James’ soul. Belloc enlists Mahmoud Ezzedine, a Muslim physician left behind by the last diplomatic visit from the Ottoman Empire, as his undercover agent. The perfect man for the job, Ezzedine is the ultimate outsider, stranded on this cold, wet, and primitive island. He will do almost anything to return home to his wife and son. But will he learn the truth about James, or will the sly king deceive him?

ABOUT

Sandra Biber Didner teaches literature and composition at Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth, Florida. She is the author of the novel The Conspiracies of Dreams , which she is presently adapting into a screen play. Family, book discussions, and music occupy most of her time when she is not playing tennis, writing, or daydreaming.

17 2020-2021 Season Handbook