Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester
27th January 2026 by | Uncategorized
Meet the characters from my novel: The Reflection in the Mirror
Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester
Sharp-eyed, heavy-browed, and impossible to wrong-foot, Stephen Gardiner was the king’s lawyer-theologian who preferred statute and canon to sweet talk. Trained in law at Cambridge and Paris, he could unpick an argument thread by thread, and he did not mind if the room felt the pull.
At court he was the steady voice of caution: loyal to the crown, wary of radical change, and quick to defend old certainties when the wind blew towards reform. He sparred with Cromwell, watched the rise and fall of queens, and kept his papers neat: warrants, letters, and careful Latin notes written by candlelight.
In our story, ‘Winchester’ is the cool hand on the table edge — patient, formidable, and very hard to read. Yet extremely dangerous to those who did not fit into his plans for England and his faith.
The novel is now available as a paperback, or on Kindle, and hardback copies will be on sale shortly.
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Thank you for reading my post
Gemma
www.murderinthetower.london