This novel is set during the English Civil War and its heroine is Jayne Swift, a Dorset physician Well, she is unofficially one, as women were not allowed to claim the title of physician however much they deserved it. She is planning to remain neutral in the fight between King and Parliament and comes up against a man who believes that Civil War is necessary to achieve an end, ostensibly a victory for Parliament- but is he all he seems.
Their romance is heavily signalled in the blurb - and the title - and it would be an obtuse reader who didn’t guess immediately that William is no footman. The first chapter contains a well-known trope for stories of this kind which is the horrific execution of a Roman Catholic priest. Jayne is caught up in events as she makes her way to her cousin in desperate need, against her husband’s wished for for her help with her ailing son.
Jayne is a very modern physician and naturally comes up against the men of the medical establishment. We learn a lot about medical methods old and new(er) and that is always fascinating. William is a strong jawed hero , always in the right place at the right time and with a strong sense of what is right. Although there is some glossing over of his betrayals of those who have long called him a friend. The romance between the two however lacks tension and is almost perfunctory.
What is interesting is the detail of some of the encounters between Royalists and parliamentarians, especially the siege of Lyme Regis. She is also strong on the description of ‘ordinary people’ just trying to get through things as best they could - particularly those with no commitment to either side Walters is even handed in her praise and disapproval of the behaviour of both sides and the way in which people’s allegiances change as the war progresses. As always though and dislike of Puritanism notwithstanding, it’s hard to see Charles Stuart as anything else but the wrongheaded villain of the piece.
There are a fair number of characters and I did become a little confused at times. We move rapidly through the years with a brief note from the author to take us from, for example Charles I’s capture in ‘46 to his execution in ‘ 49.
I am familiar with the period so there was no surprise in the major outcomes. So the tension needed to have come in interactions between the characters and uncertainty over their fates and everything was just so easily resolved.
The writing is fluent and the story battles along and I cannot say I did not enjoy it. It was just somehow less than the sum of its parts.
Their romance is heavily signalled in the blurb - and the title - and it would be an obtuse reader who didn’t guess immediately that William is no footman. The first chapter contains a well-known trope for stories of this kind which is the horrific execution of a Roman Catholic priest. Jayne is caught up in events as she makes her way to her cousin in desperate need, against her husband’s wished for for her help with her ailing son.
Jayne is a very modern physician and naturally comes up against the men of the medical establishment. We learn a lot about medical methods old and new(er) and that is always fascinating. William is a strong jawed hero , always in the right place at the right time and with a strong sense of what is right. Although there is some glossing over of his betrayals of those who have long called him a friend. The romance between the two however lacks tension and is almost perfunctory.
What is interesting is the detail of some of the encounters between Royalists and parliamentarians, especially the siege of Lyme Regis. She is also strong on the description of ‘ordinary people’ just trying to get through things as best they could - particularly those with no commitment to either side Walters is even handed in her praise and disapproval of the behaviour of both sides and the way in which people’s allegiances change as the war progresses. As always though and dislike of Puritanism notwithstanding, it’s hard to see Charles Stuart as anything else but the wrongheaded villain of the piece.
There are a fair number of characters and I did become a little confused at times. We move rapidly through the years with a brief note from the author to take us from, for example Charles I’s capture in ‘46 to his execution in ‘ 49.
I am familiar with the period so there was no surprise in the major outcomes. So the tension needed to have come in interactions between the characters and uncertainty over their fates and everything was just so easily resolved.
The writing is fluent and the story battles along and I cannot say I did not enjoy it. It was just somehow less than the sum of its parts.