Edinburgh, winter of 1574. Queen Mary has fled Scotland, to raise an army from the French. Her son and heir, Jamie, is held under protection in Stirling Castle. John Knox is dead. The people are unmoored and lurching under the uncertain governance of this riven land. It's a deadly time for young student Will Fowler, short of stature, low of birth but mightily ambitious, to make his name. Told by a character whose rise mirrors the conflicts he narrates, 'Rose Nicolson' is a vivid, passionate and unforgettable novel of this most dramatic period of Scotland's history.