The Palladium Secret

The Palladium Secret is a Gothic tale of Elizabethan spies, secret codes and the quest for the Palladium, the sacred statue that, according to legend, could protect a kingdom from all harm.

Based on historical events, and real characters, this is an exciting fiction that is full of dark atmosphere and mystery.

In the past, owning the Palladium has guaranteed the security of the Trojan, Greek and Roman empires but its loss has brought about their downfall. In the 1580s, Queen Elizabeth’s England, emerging as a newly Protestant state, is threatened by Catholic enemies on all sides. English spies, Richard Hesketh and Edward Kelley, posing as alchemists and necromancers, have located the Palladium in the palace of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, from where they plan to steal it and bring it to London, to be enshrined in the Tower of London and so protect England against invasion. 

But Hesketh has doubts of faith and resolve, and Kelley, labouring over a hot furnace and breathing toxic fumes of mercury and lead, is possessed by demons and is losing his mind. And there are others seeking the Palladium for their own ends, namely the traitor Sir William Stanley, who will stop at nothing to gain the sacred statue, and some members of the Order of the Golden Helmet, a secret society who meet in London, and who dream of bringing about a cultural renaissance under the auspices of the goddess Pallas Athena...