A captivating and fascinating novel, where fact blends seamlessly with fiction, set from 1647-1649 during the final months of Charles I. These years are one of the most intriguing periods in the history of Great Britain, and this novel takes you into the hearts and minds of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, Robert Hammond, and Jane Whorwood. While the men are undeniably at the forefront, it is the women who truly brought this novel to life for me, the spy and lover Jane Whorwood, Cromwell’s wife Elizabeth, and Hammond’s mother add texture and create colour. Simon Parke has created living, breathing, fallible people and I walked among them, listening, learning, evaluating, I was left wanting to know more. ‘The Solider, the Gaoler, The Spy and her Lover’ is such a worthy and absorbing read, as the axe falls, history hovers in touching distance. ~ Liz Robinson
A 'Piece of Passion' from the publisher...
'November 1647, and Jane Whorwood, as vivacious as her fiery hair suggests, hastens undercover through the London crowd to consult an astrologer on how to safeguard her lover, Charles 1 . . . Currently holed up (in some comfort) in Hampton Court, she wonders if the stars suggest a better home for the king? Robert Hammond, his majesty’s reluctant gaoler, might have wished she hadn’t bothered, and as for the deeply depressed Oliver Cromwell . . .
Having had the pleasure of working with Simon for twenty years, I’ve never felt more enthralled by his psychological insight or enchanted by his easy, natural way with humour. This story of the months leading up to the death of a monarch – utterly improbable but largely true – is no less than a masterpiece.'
Alison Barr, Publisher, Marylebone House
Click here to read a Q&A with Simon Parke about this book.
Primary Genre | Historical Fiction |
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