17th century
England
“In this relation of the events of October, 1664 - the month in which the Russells married, if you cast your mind back to the events of An Abiding Fire - we return once more to the sleepy world of Restoration Essex. It's still a brave new world to one Thankful For His Deliverance Russell, sometime Ironside, occasional intriguer, civil servant, and now - to his astonishment - official husband-to-be of the lovely Thomazine. In a month's time, they will be man and wife, and even the forces of darkness cannot come between them. But how come his very common-sensible Thomazine suddenly thinks the forces of darkness would have any interest at all in the marriage of a retired soldier and an Essex goodwife? And more to the point, how come his old friend Lucifer Pettitt is encouraging this superstitious nonsense? A true, faithful, and rather silly relation of mistaken identity involving demons, loot, hellhounds, bad poetry, and highwaymen. Possibly some swearing, in both English and French. And maybe one or two last-minute lessons in compromise, and the nature of enduring love, for both of them.”
One of the things I like about M J Logue’s novels, be they about the English Civil War (with that rascal Holofernes Babbitt) or after the war with (equally as much of a rascal) Thankful Russell, all the characters are so believably real. To the extent that I get very disappointed when I can’t find them mentioned in any non-fiction books about Charles I or II or Oliver Cromwell and co. It is a habit of prolific readers of historical fiction to assume that charismatic characters were once real-life people; for authors to be able to endorse that assumption, apparently effortlessly, is a sign of excellent writing. And M J Logue is an excellent writer.
Another thing I like is how Ms Logue has skilfully continued her saga of these two main characters by seamlessly dove-tailing her 17th-century War Years stories to the events of the post-war and post-Cromwell years. Aided, in the latter case, by a third main character, Hollie’s daughter, Thomazine.
It was such a pleasure to discover another tale about these wonderful characters. A True and Faithful Relation is a short tale that slots in between the other stories already published. For 99p (less than a cup of coffee) it is an amusing quick read entertainment about family, love, pre-marriage nerves, misunderstandings and an intriguing element of the supernatural by way of a monster of a dog.
My only (very slight) quibble about this episode of the Russell/Babbitt life is that if you haven’t read any of the other tales this one might be a little confusing – so start at the beginning with The Red Horse... In my opinion, you'll not regret it. However, I do hope the author doesn't mind me saying, but these super stories are being let down by poor quality covers.
That's the eventual intention, that there will be collections. I just have to stop writing them first so they can go in some sort of order....!
ReplyDeletesomething for readers to look forward to!
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