In Norah Lofts’ novel about Sir Walter Raleigh, it’s not easy being friends with Queen Elizabeth I

Rating: Four stars

Being a favorite of the Queen has its pitfalls. She likes to keep you close and you need her permission to go anywhere and especially to marry.

   In Norah Lofts’ novel “Here Was A Man”, Sir Walter Raleigh falls in love with one of Elizabeth’s ladies in waiting whom he secretly marries.

   That’s going to be trouble.

   Lofts’ story is romantic, yet you can feel Raleigh’s frustration with Elizabeth I. Raleigh is a member of Elizabeth’s court who dreams of exploring the New World. Raleigh is called back in the middle of his mission and doesn’t know why. Has something happened to his wife Bess?

   Sir Walter Raleigh lived from 1552 to 1618. Not just an explorer and soldier, he was a politician and considered a top Elizabethan poet. He was a contemporary of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Sydney, who are all part of Raleigh’s story as told by Lofts. Rising rapidly in Queen Elizabeth's favor, Raleigh was knighted in 1585. His 1584 plan to colonize Roanoke Island would end in disaster, as Elizabeth held all English ships to fight the Spanish Armada, preventing the colony’s relief. When a ship finally came four years later, there was no trace of the colonists.

   For the crime of not requesting the Queen's permission to marry, Raleigh and his wife were sent to the Tower of London. After their release in 1594, Raleigh sailed to South America to seek the fabled city of gold El Dorado. Although Raleigh regained royal favor with Elizabeth, her successor King James I felt otherwise. Raleigh was beheaded at Whitehall.

   Norah Lofts was born in Shipdham, Norfolk in England. A best-selling British author, Lofts lived from 1904 to 1983. She wrote over 50 historical fiction novels as well as non-fiction and short stories. She seemed to enjoy writing about places. She wrote Bless This House, following the family and history of a house originally built during Elizabethan times.

   Lofts also wrote under two pseudonyms Peter Curtis and Juliet Astley. As Astley she only wrote two novels. As Curtis she wrote five murder mystery novels that are darker. She chose to do this so not to confuse the readers of her historical fiction.

   Lofts’ writing style is always apparent. Lofts’ historical novels are either biographical novels about the royals such as Catherine of Aragon, Eleanor the Queen, Anne Boleyn, and Isabella of Castile, or are novels set in East Anglia, a fictitious town she named Baildon that she patterned largely on Bury St. Edmunds. Thomas Hardy and Faulkner took a similar approach in their writing.

   A number of Lofts’ books became movies. In 1947 Jassy was made staring Margaret Lockwood and Dennis Price. In 1950 You're Best Alone was made into a film with Elizabeth Sellars, Patrick Holt and Peter Reynolds, but the film’s name was changes to Guilt is My Shadow. In 1966 The Devil's Own, which was also known as The Little Wax Doll and Catch As Catch Can, was renamed again and made into The Witches staring Joan Fontaine, Kay Walsh and Alec McCowen. Also in 1966, the film 7 Women, directed by John Ford and stared Anne Bancroft, was based on the story Chinese Finale by Lofts.

   In Here Was a Man, Norah Lofts writes vivid pictures of the life of Sir Walter Raleigh. You get the feeling you’re in the court of Elizabeth I.

   Here Was a Man: A Novel of Sir Walter Raleigh and Elizabeth I by Norah Lofts

Trade Paperback, 304 pages, Touchstone, July 14 2009, ISBN: 9781416590910