Dawnlands
A Novel
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4.6 • 20 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Palace intrigue, defiant heroism, and a long-awaited love fulfilled from New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory in her Fairmile series.
It is 1685 and England is on the brink of a renewed civil war. King Charles II has died without an heir and his brother James is to take the throne. But the people are bitterly divided, and many do not welcome the new king or his young queen. Ned Ferryman cannot persuade his sister, Alinor, that he is right to return from America with his Pokanoket servant, Rowan, to join the rebel army. Instead, Alinor and her daughter Alys, have been coaxed by the manipulative Livia to save the queen from the coming siege. The rewards are life-changing: the family could return to their beloved Tidelands, and Alinor could rule where she was once lower than a servant.
Alinor’s son is determined to stay clear of the war, but, in order to keep his own secrets in the past, Livia traps him in a plan to create an imposter Prince of Wales—a surrogate baby to the queen.
From the last battle in the desolate Somerset Levels to the hidden caves on the slave island of Barbados, this third volume of an epic story follows a family from one end of the empire to another, to find a new dawn in a world which is opening up before them with greater rewards and dangers than ever before.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gregory (The Other Boleyn Girl) delivers an engrossing if scattered third installment to her Fairmile Series. In 1685, England's Stuart James II is king. But for how long? His second wife, Mary Beatrice of Modena, is openly Roman Catholic. Some whisper that the young Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's illegitimate son, is England's rightful ruler. Will England see rebellion yet again? Through these fraught times Gregory follows tough-as-nails midwife Alinor Reekie, as well as her family and friends: Alinor's son Rob wishes to avoid the brewing war but is soon entangled in it, and Alinor's brother Ned Ferryman returns from America with his mysterious, newfound Pokanoket companion, Rowan, to fight with the rebels. Gregory intertwines these fictional lives with some of 17th-century England's most famous and infamous figures. Some, like Lord Chief Justice, Judge Jeffreys, remind readers how barbarous the era could be, as he sentences a 70-year-old woman to burn alive. The narrative unfolds in familiar settings such as St. James's Palace, Whitehall, and Windsor Castle, as well as London's back allies and coffeehouses, and jumps to Bristol, Bath, Somerset (where the soon-to-be-executed Monmouth declares himself king), and colonial settings across the Atlantic. With so many places and characters in the mix, the story can be difficult to follow, but Gregory is as adept as ever at creating convincing atmosphere. The author's fans will not be disappointed.
