by Samantha J. Mason
A baker's daughter. A queen's secret. A Jubilee about to go very, very wrong.
Penny Pym knew two things for certain: she was a baker's daughter, and she did not belong in Buckingham Palace. But thanks to a forged application from her well-meaning mother, Queen Victoria plucks her from her simple life and appoints her as a lady-in-waiting with one impossible task: tell the truth, no matter who's in the room.
Guided by Brett Thistlewaite, the Queen's enigmatic Attendant, and his unusual spies — a covert network of palace cats who patrol the shadows — Penny must navigate a minefield of secrets and sabotage. Every step brings her closer to the heart of a plot against the Crown… and to the terrifying realization that she might be the only one capable of stopping it.
As Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee approaches, pressure mounts. The Old Guard wants her silenced. The Prince is building machines that could upend the monarchy. Allies and enemies blur together. Penny fights to quiet the voice insisting she's just a baker's girl playing dress-up — but when the stakes turn deadly, she discovers that seeing past the masks of the aristocracy isn't a flaw. It's her greatest weapon.
Can an unlikely outsider expose the conspiracy, protect the Crown, and finally accept that she doesn't just belong here… she was made for this?
