At the centre of this kaleidoscopic portrait of the most vivid age in British history is the story of Kit Marlowe, towering genius of the theatre, but driven by sexual and political conflicts Seduced into the devious world of espionage through his relationship with Walsingham, the spymaster, his rapscallion drinking and roistering, and his passion for the theatre, poetry and language here is a novel with a cast including Raleigh, Kyd and Essex, written against the sights, smells and spectacle of 16th century London