• Age: 15 to 18
• Grade: 10 to 12

England, 1541. An ailing Henry VIII reigns from a contested throne. In parallel story lines, The Tudor Prophecy follows two young women, Lady Alice Grantmire and Hester Vaughan, cousins who each suffer greatly from the King's unjust decrees. Lady Alice and her mother are evicted from their estate and take residence in a cottage where they earn a subsistence selling herbal remedies--until they are accused of witchcraft. After being molested by the King, Hester is summoned to her estranged father's home in Wales. There she becomes betrothed to a Welsh bard whose mentor has visions foretelling the ascendancy of Henry's second daughter, Elizabeth. When Hester encounters the eight-year-old Lady Elizabeth, the two forge a relationship whereby Hester can persuade the future queen to temper her own rule with mercy. This epic, literary tale--a Game of Thrones meets Little Women--is also for readers who loved the Wolf Hall trilogy by Booker-Prize winner Hilary Mantel.

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Julie Strong's profile page

Julie Strong is a soon-to-be-retired family physician in Halifax, Nova Scotia; she has an ongoing shamanic practice where she addresses the spiritual causes of illness. Julie was born in Manchester, England, grew up in Wales, Australia, and Ireland, and emigrated to Canada in 1980. Her medical degree is from Trinity College, Dublin University, Ireland, and she holds a BA in Classics from Dalhousie University, Halifax. Her shamanism training is from the Foundation for Shamanic Studies in Marin County, California. Dr. Strong has given presentations in Canada, the US, and Europe on the subject of insanity in ancient Greek literature. She presented a three-part series on Greek mythology at Halifax Central Library in spring 2018 and also “Finding Comfort in Difficult Times,” an overview of shamanism, in fall 2021. She is a lecturer with the Senior College Association of Nova Scotia (SCANS) and delivered a six-week course, The Goddess in Antiquity, in spring 2024, which emphasized humanity’s need to reconnect with Nature and the Divine Feminine Julie's essays appear in several anthologies, including Letting Go (Bacon Press Books, 2016) and Much Madness, Divinest Sense (Pottersfield Press, 2017). Her story "Alice’s Bonfire" won the Budge Wilson Short Fiction Prize from the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia in 2010, and her play, Athena in Love, was awarded “best new play” in the Halifax Fringe Festival in 2012. The Tudor Prophecy is her first novel. Julie is presently working on Keeping it Together Down Under, a memoir of how she and her younger sister were transplanted from their home in the UK to an orphanage in Tasmania, Australia, in the mid-1960s. Julie, who has three grown children and three grandchildren, plays viola in an amateur string quartet and orchestra and loves dancing and pickleball.

The Tudor Prophecy is a fast-paced and exciting narrative following the trials and adventures of two young women in the turbulent times of the reformation in England. Spanning a few hectic months, and ranging from London to North Wales, Julie Strong’s novel gives us the struggles and difficulties that ordinary women and their families went through in that turbulent time, as she traces the perilous journeys of appealing cousins Alice and Hester while they attempt to keep their tattered lives together, and find love on the way. The plot twists and turns in surprising and entertaining ways, introducing us to a vile Henry VIII, and leading through the pagan remains of the Goddess in Wales, to an encounter with a princess. Careful research comes to life in engaging prose, and a vivid story carries the reader along swiftly.

- Dr. Elizabeth Edwards, Professor of Medieval History, University of Kings College

An astonishment of riches—impeccably researched, gorgeous detail; wry, earthy humour; nimble, beautiful prose—The Tudor Prophecy recreates a world in which nature’s resplendence and humanity’s place in its order outshine the brutal throne and dominion of Henry VIII. Strong’s novel is fiercely ambitious, deeply felt, at once playful and wise as it reveals the eternal feminine in an era driven by animus and marked by violent schism. No holds barred, it reflects upon the mystery of genuine power in the sphere of humble human relations, its players’ melodramas guided by true nobility: the spirit of benevolence and love. - Carol Bruneau, author of Brighten the Corner Where You Are.

The Tudor Prophecy is a tremendous read and testament to Julie Strong’s diligent research into Henry VIII and his break with the Roman Catholic Church. Amid dips into Welsh mythology and folklore, the stories of Hester and Alice are told with pathos tinged with defiance. An epic tale of Tudor machinations thwarted by loyalty and love. - Apple Gidley, author of the novels Fireburn, Transfer, and Have You Eaten Rice Today?