Like so much of English history, Dawnlands encapsulates the turbulent times of ‘a king in trouble, a country divided and determined women’.
Set in 1685 through to the eventual overthrow of the Roman Catholic King James in 1688.
Dawnlands returns to the successful dockside business of Alinor and Alys on the Thames River. There’s the sniff of uprising in the air as England comes to terms with a Roman Catholic King on the throne! Alinor’s brother Ned has finally returned home from America with a rescued Pokanoket ‘servant’. Ned, ever the fredom-fighter, is desperate to join the co-ordinated rebellion.
Arch nemesis Livia is summoned to the courts of her friend, The Queen Mary and so begins the plotting and scheming to hold power, but with more self-preservation at its heart. Betrayals, manipulations and ambitious plans dominate this satisfying historical saga.
Stretching from America to hidden corners of England with rudimentary courts and sumptuous palaces of London to the slave-serviced sugar plantations in Barbados, this is a full-bodied tale of political maneuverings and personal ambitions.
This is the third book in the Fairmile series from renowned historical fiction author Philippa Gregory. Book one was Tidelands, the second book was Dark Tides and it is highly recommended that you read them in sequence to gain the full flow of the tale.