Rebels and Traitors
Like many an adolescent, Gideon Jukes is a young man rebelling against family constrictions and looking for his own path in life. He takes an apprenticeship as a printer and so is exposed to the teachings of many great men. But wisdom does not warn him to avoid marriage to the scheming Lady Keevil. Committed to the Parliamentarians, Gideon is prepared to make any sacrifices to aid their cause.
Meanwhile, Juliana makes a hasty marriage to avoid penury and finds herself allied to a poor man of mercurial character. Orlando Lovell is a schemer extraordinaire and a King’s man. Often left alone, and then pregnant, Juliana has to survive using her wits to secure a home of her own. Gideon and Juliana might be on different sides of the conflict but their lives will meet and part, cross and cross again. Mutual attraction accompanies their meetings, but there will be much adversity before they can even think of finding a life together. And when peace comes they may find that even harder to survive than war.
Rebels and Traitors is a truly epic novel. Vast in scope and depth, it tells the story of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth, from the perspective of the common man and woman. It takes the reader into the heart of civil conflict and never flinches from showing the true scale of horror and atrocity.
Lindsey Davis casts off her popular detective writer persona and dons the mantle of the serious mainstream historian. Her Falco novels are great escapist literature, but this book takes her writing to a newer, altogether weightier level. Extensive research combined with dynamite storytelling has produced a masterpiece, and this comes highly recommended to all.
