If you only ever read one book set in Elizabethan England, make it this one - it has everything! From Shakespeare, theatres, a heaving London, and horseback pursuits down the Great North Road, to encounters with miners, and risky scrambles across the peaks and valleys of the Lakeland Fells being pursued by ruthless assassins, Trease flung everything into this thrilling adventure story. It's a kind of meeting of 'Shakespeare in Love' and ' The 39 Steps', with a dose of the Cumbrian wilds thrown in for good measure! Trease was a socialist, ahead of his time, and a great believer, too in the strength of women. For these reasons, his books have truly stood the test of time, this book reads as if it has only just been published. His champions in 'Cue For Treason' are Pete, a Lakeland farmer's son, on the run for his part in overturning a drystone wall erected by an overbearing landowner, and Kit, a runaway girl posing as a boy, whose guardian wants her married to the evil Sir Philip Morton, but whose desire is to act in Shakespeare's plays. The two become embroiled in a plot against the queen which they are determined to foil, or die in the attempt.

This book could be a great one for a confident reader as young as 11 year old but is just as suitable for teens - and even adults!

It's also a lovely read if you live in or love the Lake District - something about the fact that the book was written 60 years ago, and set 350 years before that, lends a wonderful sense of permanence to the mountains that Pete roams.

Sparklingly written, wonderfully paced, and SO hard to put down, it's no wonder this is still in print 65 years after it was first published in 1940. It's a gem.