The Vizard Mask by Diana Nor­man was a cap­ti­vat­ing read from start to fin­ish. It takes place dur­ing the Restora­tion Period with Charles II on the throne and ends with William and Mary of Orange on the throne. The story spans 25 years and includes fic­tional as well as real his­tor­i­cal char­ac­ters that include Aphra Behn, the first woman play­wright of her time who was buried in West­min­ster Abbey to the cha­grin of many. Nell Gywnn, mis­tress to Charles II as well as the actress, Eliz­a­beth Barry. But the story is seen through the eyes of Puri­tan Pen­i­tence Hurd, a young girl who flees Amer­ica in search of an elu­sive aunt in Lon­don and finds love and adventure!

The Vizard Mask by Diana NormanThe Vizard Mask is a com­bi­na­tion of polit­i­cal intrigue, sus­pense and love-story. The novel begins with Pen­i­tence Hurd mak­ing her way from the Amer­i­cas to Lon­don on her own. Her rea­sons for leav­ing have to deal with a house-fire along with accusatory remarks of her being a witch and flee­ing from the threat of rav­ish­ment from the Rev­erend Block. In search­ing for a Mar­garet Hughes in Lon­don — she is given direc­tion to Dog Yard and is led to a brothel called The Cock and Pie. It is there that she finds out the secret of her her­itage, fights to sur­vive the Plague and falls in love with an actor.

There is a really nice scene that I’ve book-marked and reread more than once because it is so mov­ing and so telling of Henry King and Pen­i­tence Hurd’s rela­tion­ship.  It is when the Dog Yarders close ranks dur­ing Shut-Up to help the Brys­ketts only sur­viv­ing child escape when so many oth­ers have died dur­ing the Plague. Just to recap some his­tory for you: Any­one who was found to have Plague, they were Shut-Up with their fam­ily & friends or strangers or who­ever hap­pened to be there for 40 days & 40 nights. It was the law and a death sen­tence. So, up on the rooftops and up on the balcony’s peo­ple went along with the Watch as well as many oth­ers who were Shut-Up. All are excited about the new play they are about to see called, Much Ado About Noth­ing by William Shake­speare; it is a ruse to dis­tract the Watch­ers while the Brys­ketts make good their escape. Pen­i­tence, fear­ing that her stut­ter will ruin the ruse, gets ner­vous and Henry King is right there to pro­vide encour­age­ment and help her over­come her fear. Love, love, love that scene!

I was a lit­tle sur­prised at how lit­tle we get to spend with Aphra Behn but then again, there is very lit­tle known about her life other than the fact that she was the first woman play­wright. There were many his­tor­i­cal mark­ers that I enjoyed read­ing such as the Duke’s The­atre and New­gate prison which the author holds noth­ing back as far as how pris­on­ers were treated there. Also, when Pen­i­tence gets her first start at the Duke’s The­atre as a “walker” we get to see how the rakes and fops would always dis­rupt the per­for­mance with their loud and rude behav­ior. Actresses were fawned over and treated like prop­erty. As you all well know that the pro­fes­sion of an actress was not a respect­ful one. Pen­i­tence tries her best to retain her free­dom but after a near rape, she quickly obtains pro­tec­tion from the Duke of Rochester by being his mistress.

Diana Nor­man cre­ates some of the most inter­est­ing char­ac­ters. I loved Henry King who appears more than he seems and plays a impor­tant role in Penitence’s life. He lit­er­ally comes out of nowhere to save Pen­i­tence from some thieves one day and ends up liv­ing next door to her. Ms. Nor­man knows how to write some of the best heroes, ladies. I’ve read five of Ms. Norman’s books and Henry King is right at the top and after that would be the hero from Blood Royal, Archibald Cameron.

The Vizard Mask is a his­tor­i­cal novel– make no mis­take about that. It has a romance in it and it’s not your typ­i­cal romance either nor is it the focus. If you can’t stand long sep­a­ra­tions between the hero and hero­ine, then this book is not for you. If you expect to read detailed love scenes — you will be dis­ap­pointed. If you can’t stand the hero/heroine sleep­ing with other peo­ple — then skip this novel alto­gether. If you enjoy his­tor­i­cal fic­tion that grabs you and cap­ti­vates you, then pick up this book. Alas, it is out of print. A lot of Diana Norman’s books are out of print but let me tell you, my fel­low read­ers, never have I read an author whose books trans­port you to another time and place as well as Diana Nor­man. She is the absolute best. She breathes life into her char­ac­ters. She trans­ports the reader to the Restora­tion Period and I enjoyed every word of it. This book is cur­rently avail­able used/new in the UK.

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