Review ~ Spirit of the Highway by Deborah Swift

Endeavour Press
2015

England 1651

Spirit of the Highway is the second part of the Highway trilogy which began with Shadow on the Highway, and which is aimed at the teen fiction market, although to be honest, it's perfectly possible to enjoy this story if,  like me, you left your teens behind a long time ago.

The story is set in the tumultuous years of the English Civil War and is narrated by Ralph Chaplin's ghost, a young man who fights bravely for the Roundhead cause, but in doing so he makes deadly enemies and his love for the owner of Markyate Manor, Lady Katherine Fanshawe complicates things even further.

As always, this talented author draws you into an entirely believable world, one where danger lurks on every corner and where neighbours fight with each other, often with deadly consequences. Time and place is captured perfectly and England in the time after the royalist defeat at the battle of Worcester is well explained.

Even though this is the second book in the trilogy, with the third expected sometime in 2016, it is really easy to pick up the story as it stands comfortably on its own. I am sure that those teen readers who enjoy 17th century fiction, and who have followed this trilogy from the begining, will find much to enjoy. There is even a well written and succinct section at the end of the novel in which the author does a commendable job of putting Civil War history into context.

Having read this author’s adult historical fiction, I am delighted to find that her teen fiction is equally as good and look forward to seeing how this trilogy concludes later this year.

Best read with....a bowl of Abigail's rich pottage and cups of small beer, ripe with yeast...

 

About the Author

Visit Deborah's website

Follow on Twitter @swiftstory

Amazon UK

Read a Black Cat's Top 10 witchy historicals - a blog post by Deborah Swift 

My thanks to the author and Endeavour Press for sharing Spirit of the Highway with me.

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Review ~ The Royalist by S J Deas

Headline
2014

William Falkland is a Royalist dragoon whose fight against the parliamentarian forces of Oliver Cromwell has led him to await his fate in the bowels of Newgate prison. When an old grain sack is slung over his head, and he is led from his cell, Falkland can only hope that the executioner will dispatch him swiftly. However, his astonishment at finding himself facing, not the dreaded executioner, but the deep baritone voice of none other than Oliver Cromwell, is matched only by the proposition Cromwell puts before him. Falkland’s reputation as an investigator precedes him, and Cromwell’s request that Falkland should act as an intelligencer to discover why mysterious deaths are sweeping through his New Model Army is as incongruous as it is intriguing; and one that Falkland, if he values his life, cannot refuse.

What then follows is a murder mystery within a historical setting. The New Model army is depicted with all its faults and failings, and interestingly, it also gives an insight into what it was like to live through the turbulence of the English civil war. Life was no bed of roses for either side, and I think this comes across in a realistic manner. The author writes with clear understanding of the period in which the book is set and makes the characters believable.

As this is the first book in a proposed series, there is some scene setting being done, which is necessary, if ,we as readers are going to connect with the central characters. I enjoyed getting to know Falkland, who although deeply flawed, has enough charisma to be able to carry the story forward.

I look forward to seeing the series progress in future novels.

 About the Author

S J Deas was born in 1968

He once set fire to Wales. Well one bit of Wales. Twice. When not burning principalities he managed to study theoretical physics at Cambridge, get a job at BAE, marry and have two children. He now lives in Essex.

My thanks to Bookbridgr and Headline for my copy of this book.

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