THE SWIFT & THE HARRIER Minette Walters (Allen & Unwin £20, 512 pp)
THE SWIFT AND THE HARRIER
by Minette Walters (Allen & Unwin £20, 512 pp)
It’s 1642 and England is in bloody turmoil as civil war breaks out, pitting Parliamentarians against Royalists, Puritans against Catholics, and dividing families and communities the length of the land. It’s a brutal time, marked by barbarism and battles, with grave injuries on both sides.
Jayne Swift of the well-to do, who is both a doctor and straight-talking, was trained to treat the injured regardless of their faith.
Honest, headstrong and brave, she’s a wonderfully engaging heroine, whose attraction to the enigmatic William Harrier adds romance to the propulsive plot. Harrier makes his untrustworthy appearance in different guises — a footman, a nobleman and a soldier — and it’s up to Jayne to discover where his true loyalties lie.
THE BLOODLESS BOY Robert J. Lloyd (Melville House £18.99, 464 pp)
THE BLOODLESS BOY
by Robert J. Lloyd (Melville House £18.99, 464 pp)
The intriguing mystery is filled to the brim with all kinds of skulduggery. It is set 12 years after London’s Great Fire of London. The story opens with the murder and bloodless death of a young boy at the Fleet River.
King Charles has Robert Hooke (natural philosopher, Curator of Experiments at the Royal Society) charged with the investigation into the death. He reluctantly accepts the charge, along with his ex-apprentice Harry Hunt.
Assassins, disgraced noblemen, and untrustworthy scientists are all encountered by the duo, who find themselves at the center of plot and counter-plot. They also encounter mysteriously connected exsanguinated corpses.
It’s vivid and robustly researched, but a little overwhelmed by the weight of the historical detail.
THE MEMORY BOX Kathryn Hughes (Headline £7.99, 432 pp)
THE MEMORY BOX
by Kathryn Hughes (Headline £7.99, 432 pp)
The story of Jenny Tanner (100 years old) is both romantic and informative.
Moving between 2019 and the first war-torn years of the 1940s, it follows Jenny as she’s evacuated to a Welsh farm and then onto a life in Italy with her new husband, where the German occupation upends their plans.
Aided by Candice, her caregiver — who’s embroiled in her own turbulent relationship — Jenny returns to the mountain village in Liguria to lay old ghosts to rest, and to reveal the significance of the cherished mementos stored in a beautiful carved box.
It’s both heartbreaking and touching, and the centenarian who is wise, conscientious, and pragmatist, takes centre stage in this dramatic story of loss, love and forgiveness.
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