""If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?" England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith's son from Putney emerges from the spring's bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen before Jane dies giving birth to the male heir he most craves. Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry's regime to the breaking point, Cromwell's robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed the past like a skin? Do the dead continually unbury themselves? What will you do, the Spanish ambassador asks Cromwell, wh

""If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?" England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith's son from Putney emerges from the spring's bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen before Jane dies giving birth to the male heir he most craves. Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry's regime to the breaking point, Cromwell's robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed the past like a skin? Do the dead continually unbury themselves? What will you do, the Spanish ambassador asks Cromwell, wh

"England, 1536. In the wake of Anne Boleyn's execution, Thomas Cromwell continues his climb to power and wealth. Meanwhile, Henry VIII settles into brief happiness with Queen Jane Seymour. With no family or private army backing him, Cromwell must rely upon his wits. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad, and the threat of invasion, Cromwell imagines a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed the past like a skin? Do the dead unbury themselves? And, as the Spanish ambassador asks Cromwell, what will you do when the king, as is his wont, eventually turns on you?"--Page 4 of cover

Stories by women from Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru on subjects ranging from politics to fantasy. In one story a woman turns to terrorism from boredom, another is a reworking of the story of Adam and Eve.