In 1992, I discovered Minette Walters. Book after book, I was devoted to her. Sometimes, her books, psychological thrillers or worse, were hard to read. But always, they were written so well, with amazing characters and every word well chosen that I kept reading them. And then, like so many of my favorite writers, she disappeared. I’m sorry, Minnette, but I eventually forgot you. And lo, as I looked through NetGalley for the best I could find, there you were. Writing a genre I’ve come to adore more recently, historical fiction. Would I have chosen late 1600s Britain if it were anyone else writing it? No, a thousand times no! I’m 19th century and up pretty much. But I figured that I would deal with the era for you, Minette.
And I read this marvelous story and learned some fascinating British history. As a former American public school student (That’s state school to the British) we basically learned about the Magna Carta, Henry II, via The Lion in Winter and some of us maybe read stuff here and there about Queen Victoria and King Edward/Wallis Simpson. That, in turn might have made us watch the movie The King’s Speech. Oh, and I read lots of Shakespeare along the way including some histories. In any event, I digress: I plead ignorance about King James, the “Catholic King” who, when a Protestant illegitimate son of the recently deceased King Charles decides to invade England and try to secure the crown, well, James was peeved. The novel opens with a man visiting with Lord Monmouth at his home in Holland and trying to talk him out of the invasion. Monmouth was (predictably) soundly defeated, captured and hung. All the poor men of Western England (Dorset) who took arms against the king were to be made examples of. Each was to be hung, released alive and drawn and Quartered. Thus, the “Bloody Assizes” of 1685. I’d heard of the words but never the events.
Walters takes our friend who visited Monmouth and places him here and there, but one cannot give away his secret without spoiling although mention is made in publicity blurbs of Lady Jayne Harrier and her enigmatic son. A delightful character the enigmatic son of a Lady. He engages in all kinds of subterfuge, bargaining, research, and more to save as many rebels as is possible. Along the way, he befriends an unusual young woman, a brilliant scholar who has a deformed leg from “palsy” and who stays housebound, rarely seeing anyone except her widowed father and their servants. She is the daughter of a magistrate and has developed a fine legal mind. Lady Jayne was present for her birth but has not seen her for many years. Lady Jayne maintains a hospital and is deeply knowledgeable about medicine. She’s is a well known and well regarded physician.
Thus, we learn along the way about British law, particularly where treason is the charge, but also that sometimes prisoners were sold into slavery in the Americas instead of being killed, with the king or his favored people making lots of money off of this “charitable” commutation. We learn tons about 17th century medicine and how many of the old concepts were losing ground. We learn about a number of important historical figures, not the least Lord Chief Justice George Jeffreys, an irascible heavy drinker with painful kidney stones who took his chances with King James and shamelessly condemned many to the prescribed and torturous end.
Walters keeps this endlessly interesting, funny at times, always clever with characters you root for and compassion popping up in unexpected places. It is fun to read a book about a guy with a great moral compass and yet have him be just… exemplary. Not preachy. Not even that judgmental. Willing to commit crimes when necessary. Having a ball doing right. Read the book and learn who he was., a terrific but fictional son of a terrific and fictional Lady Jayne Harrier. I understand if I go back and read Walter’s other historical fiction, I will meet Lady Jayne again. Woo Hoo. A resounding, could not put it down and first review of 2025 highly recommended five stars book. Seriously.
They Called me Bookworm 