Off the coast of Liguria 1713 - accompanied by his valet Thomas Noon and tutor Lucius Jelbourne young aristocrat Lord Stilwell is bound for Genoa and that essential part of an English gentlemans education; the Grand Tour of Italy. Jelbourne has long been wary of Noon: his standing at Dengby Hall his relationship with Stilwell and his intelligence do not tally with his role as a servant. Noon likewise is suspicious of Jelbourne: why does Stilwells tutor enjoy better hospitality than Stilwell himself? And why when Jelbourne is purchasing Italian pictures supposedly a century old is the paint still fresh? The English who visit eighteenth-century Italy normally consider it only for its past: Jelbourne as Noon is to discover is different. For there is a new king on the throne of England - a German a protestant - and not all of his subjects are loyal. As the Grand Tour weaves its way to Venice Rome and Naples Noon finds himself drawn into a deadly world of intrigue and double lives: a world where nothing and no-one are as they seem. And though Noon would like to unmask the mysterious Jelbourne his attentions are drawn to the delectable Natalia Silver and the unmistakable lure of love ...THE MASQUERADE is a sophisticated literary thriller that confirms Nicholas Griffins growing reputation as one our finest exponents of historical fiction.