In the year 1588, Queen Elizabeth of England was assassinated.As a result, when the Spanish Armada attacked, England went down to defeat. The entire history of Europe and the New World was changed: now, in the Twentieth Century, the Church of Rome reigns supreme over an orderly world of pastoral beauty, but Man's technology is still at the level of the steam locomotive, the typewriter and primitive radio.Yet Science cannot be held back forever; its advocates become more daring and open with each year. A vast revolution is building....In PAVANE, Keith Roberts has produced a novel of alternate time-streams that is destined to become a classic.