Gloriana's Torch - Patricia Finney

Historical fiction.
It's set during the reign of Elizabeth 1, at the time of the Spanish Armada, 1588. It's one of those books where each chapter is centred on a particular character, rather than being a straight chronological narrative. I'm only about a quarter of the way through so far but it's interesting enough to keep me going. I'm liking the African woman a lot - she's been sort of voluntarily enslaved because she's searching for her son who has been taken as a slave. She talks to her gods, of which there are many, and has some interesting observations on the Catholic god (Suffering Jesus) and the Protestant god (Thundering Jehovah) of the "northern hairy ghosts".
The other main character, so far, is an Englishman in service to the queen. He dreams a lot and Finney uses these dreams to present a kind of alternative history - what if the Spanish had landed and invaded England.
What I don't like is the way Finney inserts herself into the story - as a sort of narrator - to tell me that she's messing with the chronology or something similar. She comes across as smug and self-satisfied - 'look at me, aren't I clever' sort of thing. Fortunately she doesn't do this too often or at great length. I would have stopped reading long ago if she had.