For
two years England has been in the grip of Civil War. In Banbury, Oxfordshire, the Cavaliers hold
the Castle, the Roundheads want it back and the town is full of zealous
Puritans.
Consequently,
the gulf between Captain Justin Ambrose and Abigail Radford, the sister of a fanatically
religious shopkeeper, ought to be unbridgeable.
The
key to both the fate of the Castle and that of Justin and Abigail lies in
defiance. But will it be enough?
A
Splendid Defiance is a dramatic and enchanting story of
forbidden love, set against the turmoil and anguish of the English Civil War.
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Excerpt
News
from the North
Waving Cornet Anderson back into his
seat, Sir Willliam said, ‘You’ve been at York with the Prince?’
‘Yes, sir.’ The boy squared his shoulders. ‘He’ll be marching south again soon. There – there’s nothing else to do. York is lost.’
Incredulity and incomprehension
registered in varying degrees on the faces before him. Then Lieutenant-Colonel
Greene said, ‘Lost? Irretrievably?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘How?
Didn’t Rupert get there in time?’
‘Oh yes, sir. He did – and he relieved the city,’ said
Cornet Anderson quickly. ‘He made one of
his fast marches round to the north and we got to York while the enemy must
have thought us still at Knaresborough. Only …’
‘Yes?’ prompted Sir William.
The boy stared down at his hands.
‘Well, the rebels had us heavily
outnumbered but everyone was saying that they wouldn’t attack because of the
York garrison.’
‘And did they? Were you taken by
surprise?’
‘No – at least, not then. But the Prince said that we must engage them
early next day and my Lord Goring went into York to tell Lord Newcastle to
bring his men out to rendezvous with us. Only they were late and the whole
morning went by and the Prince was fretting at the delay.’
‘I’ll wager he was,’ said Justin
Ambrose grimly. ‘Cursing all creation,
was he?’
‘I don’t know, sir. He marched us to Long Marston and deployed us
for battle before the York men came up.
But by that time there was a storm brewing so His Highness said we could
stand down and get something to eat. It
must have been nearly seven o’clock and, after all the delay and everything, it
seemed he’d decided not to attack … and it didn’t look as if the enemy would
because they’d been manoeuvring as if they expected us to strike south
again.’ He paused and his hands suddenly
tightened on each other. ‘And then all
hell broke loose. They attacked and the
storm came all at once. The Prince was
riding up and down the lines through the rain like a man possessed. It wasn’t even his own horse.’ He stopped again and then said wearily, ‘It was
horrible. The Prince’s cavalry just broke and scattered. And Lord Newcastle’s men kept refusing
quarter until – until they were all lying there in the mud.’
This time the silence seemed to close
around each one of them like a fist.
‘So York could not be held and the
North is lost,’ said the Lieutenant-Colonel at last, voicing all their
thoughts. ‘What is Prince Rupert doing?’
‘Rallying the men, sir. Lord Newcastle,’ added the boy on a
perceptible note of contempt, ‘is taking ship for France.’
‘And what of Rupert himself?’ asked
Justin. ‘It’s his first real
defeat. How has he taken it?’
‘It’s hard to say,’ came the slow
response. ‘But they killed his dog, you
know … and that must have been near as bad as everything else.’
Winner of four
gold medals for historical romance and sixteen Book Readers’ Appreciation
Medallions, Stella Riley lives in the beautiful medieval town of Sandwich in
Kent.
She is fascinated by the English Civil Wars and has
written six books set in that period. These, like the 7 book Rockliffe series,
the Brandon Brothers trilogy and, most recently The Shadow Earl, are all
available in audio, performed by Alex Wyndham.
Stella enjoys travel, reading, theatre, Baroque
music and playing the harpsichord. She
also has a fondness for men with long hair - hence her 17th and 18th century
heroes.
Author
Links:
Website:
https://stellarileybooks.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RileyStella
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stellariley.books
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Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/riley9631/stella-riley-books/
Book
Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/stella-riley
Amazon
Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stella-Riley/e/B0034PB7UU/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40487661-a-splendid-defiance
