Acclaimed author Diana Norman wrote several historical novels, including the internationally bestselling MISTRESS OF THE ART OF DEATH series, under the name Ariana Franklin. THE VIZARD MASK was originally published in 1994 and has become available again as ebook only.
Penitence Hurd journeys from Puritan America to London to find her aunt, and steps into a city full of rogues, hell-fire and fleshly pleasures. When she discovers her aunt is running a brothel, Penitence has no option but to point out the wickedness.
As the Plague releases its horror over London's streets, Penitence is forced to acknowledge that courage and a paradoxical decency are to be found among the wicked as much as the saintly. Her former morality shaken, she meets Aphra Behn, playwright and spy for Charles II, who introduces her to the wicked Restoration stage, where nearly all England's first actresses are somebody's mistress, and Penitence is changed forever...