Minette Walters is the author of one of my favourite crime novels, so I started to read this historical novel with trepidation. My worries were unfounded - The Swift and the Harrier is a cracking book set during the English Civil War.
It is refreshing to read a war-based book which has a female protagonist. Jayne Swift is a strong-willed woman and, unusually for the period in which the book is set, she is also a doctor. I liked her a lot, especially her no-nonsense approach and her willingness to treat everyone the same, no matter which side they were on. William Harrier is a mysterious and charismatic character who appears at various intervals during the book, along with many other likeable characters and quite a few rogues. It is well researched with brilliant descriptions of the war and the period in general. I learned a lot from this book.
I thought the book lost a bit of pace in the middle, and that the ending seemed rather rushed, but on the whole this is an enjoyable novel which I would thoroughly recommend.
It is refreshing to read a war-based book which has a female protagonist. Jayne Swift is a strong-willed woman and, unusually for the period in which the book is set, she is also a doctor. I liked her a lot, especially her no-nonsense approach and her willingness to treat everyone the same, no matter which side they were on. William Harrier is a mysterious and charismatic character who appears at various intervals during the book, along with many other likeable characters and quite a few rogues. It is well researched with brilliant descriptions of the war and the period in general. I learned a lot from this book.
I thought the book lost a bit of pace in the middle, and that the ending seemed rather rushed, but on the whole this is an enjoyable novel which I would thoroughly recommend.