Dawnlands the Most Compelling Historical and Mystical Novel

England in 1685 is a country split down the middle. Ned Ferryman comes home from America with his Pokanoket servant to fight for the charismatic Duke of Monmouth against the Catholic King James, and finds an unexpected love along the way. At a frightened court, Livia pulls her son Matthew and his foster mothers, Alinor and Alys, into a plot to protect the queen from invasion. Matthew's reward is the Manor of Foulmire, on the very tidelands where the family once scraped a hard living, so Alinor finds herself lady of the manor just as her brother marches towards the rebellion's last battle.

The third Fairmile novel, after Tidelands and Dark Tides, ranges from London palaces to the Sussex marshes and the shores of Barbados. It suits anyone who likes history seen from below, through families caught between loyalty and ambition.