*Editorial Book Review*
The Queen’s Tears
A Julia Darke Novel
by Elizabeth St.John
October 19th - 30th, 2026
Publication Date: October 15th, 2026
Publisher: Falcon Historical Press
Pages: 400
Genre: Historical Fiction / Dual-Timeline
A stolen crown jewel and an enigmatic portrait force two women to confront the devastating choices they made for love—and summon the courage to live with the truth.
1619: Barbara, Lady Villiers, at the bidding of her brother-in-law, the Duke of Buckingham, has stolen the dying Queen Anna’s jewels—and kept the greatest prize for herself. The Queen’s Tears, a brooch of extraordinary value, torments her: too dangerous to sell, too priceless to discard, and possibly her only means of securing her children’s future. When the family fortunes are shattered, Barbara faces an impossible choice: remain loyal to Buckingham—or betray him by confessing the theft to King Charles.
Present Day: Julia Darke opens her Cotswolds bookshop to start life over peacefully. Instead, she stumbles across a Van Dyck portrait of Barbara’s daughter, with tantalising signs of the missing Queen’s Tears hidden in plain sight. The discovery also brings her face-to-face with the last person she wants to see again. Oliver Villiers, the Oxford art conservator she once loved and walked away from, holds the cipher to the painting—and to Julia’s own unresolved history.
Reluctantly drawn together by a shared obsession to uncover Barbara’s secret, Julia and Oliver follow the trail of the Queen’s Tears—and the closer Julia comes to Barbara’s truth, the harder it becomes to hide from her own.
Inspired by the true stories of Queen Anna of Denmark’s stolen jewels and a missing Van Dyck painting, The Queen’s Tears weaves history, fiction, and family research across the centuries. Readers of The Lady of the Tower will find old favourites—and a new heroine following in their footsteps.
"...I didn’t want the portrait to exploit it. I wanted to protect her.”
A painting of a woman who lived four hundred years ago may seem an unusual thing to become attached to, especially when purchasing it means spending thousands of pounds and confronting someone you have spent thirty years avoiding. For Julia Darke, however, the opportunity to own a portrait of Barbara St.John Villiers is worth the discomfort. Barbara has become an important part of the historical novel Julia is writing, and the chance to have her likeness hanging in her home is difficult to resist.
Unfortunately, the painting is being offered for sale through a gallery associated with Oliver Villiers, a man Julia once loved. Their reunion is uncomfortable enough, but matters become considerably worse when Julia arrives at the auction, only to discover that the portrait has been sold privately to the wealthy Vivienne Deveraux before the bidding has even begun.
'The Queen's Tears' by Elizabeth St.John moves between Julia's investigation and the seventeenth century, where Barbara St.John Villiers is living through the extraordinary rise of the Villiers family at the court of King James. With Queen Anna of Denmark approaching death, questions surrounding the royal jewels place Barbara in a position where loyalty, personal ambition and the wishes of her powerful brother-in-law are not necessarily compatible.
What interested me most about Julia's story was the contrast between the historical importance of the portrait and the way it is treated as a valuable possession. A painting can be bought, sold, restored and displayed, with its financial worth affected by the identity of the sitter and the artist responsible for it. Yet the woman represented in the painting had a life that cannot be reduced to an auction catalogue. Julia is interested in that life, and her attachment to the portrait is considerably more personal than the commercial interests surrounding its sale.
Julia's determination to continue researching the portrait is understandable. The more she learns, the more apparent it becomes that an incorrect identification could affect how the woman in the painting is remembered. I enjoyed the use of photographic examination and the discovery of details concealed beneath later alterations. These elements give the investigation a practical foundation, while surviving family papers and historical documents provide information that cannot be obtained from the painting alone.
Oliver's presence complicates matters. His connection to the Villiers family gives him a particular interest in the portrait, although his responsibilities within the art world are not always compatible with Julia's wishes. Their previous relationship adds another difficulty, for neither seems capable of approaching the other without remembering what happened between them. Their relationship develops alongside the investigation, bringing an additional element of uncertainty to the contemporary storyline.
Barbara's circumstances could hardly be more different. She belongs to a family enjoying the advantages of royal favour, but those privileges come with obligations that cannot easily be refused. George Villiers, Marquess of Buckingham, has risen to a position of extraordinary influence, and the opportunities available to his relatives depend heavily upon his continued success. Barbara is ambitious enough to recognise what might be gained through Buckingham's connections, but also proud enough to resent the extent of his authority over her family's affairs.
The political influence of Buckingham is one of the most interesting historical aspects of the novel. Appointments, financial advantages and access to the royal household can be distributed through personal favour, placing relatives in positions that might otherwise have remained beyond their reach. Such arrangements benefit the Villiers family enormously, although they also create expectations that are difficult to escape.
Barbara is certainly willing to take advantage of these circumstances. She wants a comfortable life, recognition of her family's importance and a secure future for her children. Her expectations are not always realistic, however, and her tendency to measure success through wealth and position can make her rather unsympathetic. I found her confidence fascinating, especially when she challenged those who possessed considerably more authority than she did, but her treatment of others sometimes suggested that her own advancement mattered more than their feelings.
The royal jewels introduce another interesting question concerning ownership. Following Queen Anna's death, their fate becomes entangled with the ambitions of individuals whose positions allow them access to the royal household. The Queen's Tears brooch is especially important, although its significance is not immediately apparent. St.John uses the jewel to connect questions of personal loyalty with the political and religious concerns of the period.
As England moves towards civil war, the security enjoyed by the Villiers family becomes increasingly uncertain. Barbara must reconsider her priorities as the possibility of losing wealth, position and family members becomes more immediate. I found this development convincing, particularly because Barbara does not suddenly abandon the qualities that have defined her character.
The two timelines work particularly well because the reader can recognise the limitations of Julia's research. She can examine a document and establish when it was written, but cannot necessarily determine whether the person responsible was being truthful. Barbara's experiences provide the circumstances behind some of these unanswered questions, allowing the reader to appreciate how incomplete surviving evidence can be.
Elizabeth St.John has brought together two very different periods through an investigation that raises questions about ownership, historical identity and the reliability of information passed down through generations. Barbara's ambitions and the political influence of the Villiers family provide a compelling historical narrative, while Julia's determination to establish the truth behind the portrait makes the contemporary storyline equally absorbing. I particularly enjoyed the way the mystery developed through historical research, with each discovery adding something new to the story. 'The Queen's Tears' is a fascinating novel, and one that has certainly made me want to learn more about the remarkable women who lived through this period.
Review by Ellie Yarde
The Coffee Pot Book Club
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Elizabeth St. John
Elizabeth St.John's acclaimed historical fiction brings to life her ancestors—remarkable women linked to England's royalty—offering unique insights into Medieval, Tudor, and Stuart times. Her novels unfold not just as traditional series, but as an interlocking web of lives: The Lydiard Chronicles—including the celebrated The Lady of the Tower—The Godmother's Secret, and The King's Intelligencer explore everything from the English Civil War to the mystery of the Princes in the Tower. Her newest novel, The Queen’s Tears, a dual timeline pursuing a stolen crown jewel, reunites favourite characters from the seventeenth-century with a present-day bookstore owner heroine.
At the heart of her writing is the transformation of real ancestral histories into narratives of historical continuity. She follows threads of legacy through generations, guided as much by wills, letters, portraits, country churches, ruined castles, manor houses, and lost gardens as by imagination.
Locations become constant companions through time, while characters whisper across centuries—their decisions resonating in the lives of their descendants to reveal how choices shape legacies. Grounded in historic sites like Lydiard Park and the Tower of London, her work creates a living archival flow that continues to flourish as the past yields its secrets.
Elizabeth divides her time between California, England, and the past, surrounded by books, gardens, and animals, with a slightly bewildered, ever-supportive husband beside her.
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