Rebels and Traitors »

LINDSEY DAVIS is the author of the internationally bestselling Falco novels. She lives in London, England.

An epic novel of the turbulent English Civil War seen through the lives of those that fought for peace and struggled for love

Set against the terrible struggle of the English Civil War, Rebels and Traitors is the story of how this turbulent era effected everyone, from rich to poor, and the hopes and dreams that carried them through years of deprivation, bloodshed and terror.

When Gideon Jukes and Juliana Lovell, who are on opposites sides of the struggle, meet during one of the era’s most crucial events, their mutual attraction brings the comfort and companionship for which they both have yearned. But the flowering of radical thought collapses; its failure leads to endless plots and strange alliances. And shadows from the past threaten them individually and together in their hard-won peace.

Like Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind and John Jakes’ North and South, Lindsey Davis brings to life a turbulent time through the stories of those who struggled, fought, lived and loved on all sides of a defining and devastating time.

Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Davis (Alexandria) takes a break from her popular Roman historical mysteries with this sprawling epic of the English civil war. Alas, after the brief, moving prologue, which vividly depicts the final hours of Charles Stuart before his execution in 1649, the novel never again attains that narrative height. The action shifts to 1634, laying the groundwork for the conflict that culminated in the royal beheading and continues through the downfall of Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate in 1657 before a pat ending. Much of the action is seen through the eyes of a resourceful survivor, Gideon Jukes, a printer who ends up becoming a musketeer in one of the London Trained Bands, fighting for the Parliament against the king’s men. Efforts to humanize the conflict by providing the bookish Jukes with a love interest don’t amount to much. Still, the author does a good job of showing the changing role of print in the political struggles. (Jan.)