Black Courtier: The Beginning

Black Courtier is a sweeping work of historical fiction inspired by the limited but compelling historical record of Mary Fillis, one of the earliest documented African women living in England during the late sixteenth century. Parish records tell us only a few facts: she arrived as a child, she was not enslaved, she became a skilled seamstress, and she was baptized. From these fragments, a vivid and emotionally layered story unfolds-one that imagines a life shaped by love, secrecy, identity...