''Rebels and Traitors'' by British historical novelist

Lindsey Davis Lindsey Davis (born 1949) is an English historical novelist, best known as the author of the Falco series of historical crime stories set in ancient Rome and its empire. She is a recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger award. Life and career ...

(best known for her

Marcus Didius Falco Lindsey Davis (born 1949) is an English historical novelist, best known as the author of the Falco series of historical crime stories set in ancient Rome and its empire. She is a recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger award. Life and career ...

series) was published by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

in September 2009 (). In contrast to the

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

setting of the Falco books and ''Course of Honour'', this book is set in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

period of the 17th century. At 742 pages it is substantially longer than her previous novels. The prologue takes place on 30 January 1649 at the execution of King Charles I at the

Palace of Whitehall The Palace of Whitehall – also spelled White Hall – at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, with the notable exception of Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The main body of the book then begins in 1634, and the endpaper blurb describes the book as being set in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, where the author was born,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, where she studied, and London, where she now lives. Davis has said that her interest in this period goes back to when a print of the ''

Laughing Cavalier The ''Laughing Cavalier'' (1624) is a portrait by the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals in the Wallace Collection in London. It was described by art historian Seymour Slive as "one of the most brilliant of all Baroque portraits". The title is ...

'' by

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, ; ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places of worship but citizens liked to decorate thei ...

hung in her primary school classroom, and was further developed when she read

Rosemary Sutcliff Rosemary Sutcliff (14 December 1920 – 23 July 1992) was an English novelist best known for children's books, especially historical fiction and retellings of myths and legends. Although she was primarily a children's author, some of her novel ...

's novels ''Simon'' and ''The Rider of the White Horse''.

Dedication

The dedication is "For Richard / dearest and closest of friends / your favourite book / in memory", and the author's website tells that "I am still getting used to life without my dear Richard. For those of you who haven't seen this before, he died in October

008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to: * "008", a fictional 00 Agent In Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and the derived films, the 00 Section of MI6 is considered the secret service's elite. A 00 (pronounced "Double O") is a field agent who ho ...

. The author says in her publisher's newsletter: "The greatest recommendation I can give is that Richard, its first reader, thought it wonderful. He devoured chunks, demanding ‘Bring more story!’ even when he was in hospital. One of the last things I was ever able to tell him was that ''Rebels and Traitors'' was to be published by Random House, so I would be working with dear friends for his favourite book."

Plot summary

The story follows the experiences of two main protagonists: Gideon Jukes, a printer from London who joins the

New Model Army The New Model Army or New Modelled Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 t ...

, and Juliana Carlill, who, as a result of her marriage to the Royalist Orlando Lovell, experiences many vicissitudes. Their stories are linked through the activities of other characters, including the ne'er-do-well Kinchin Tew, the innocent and upright Edmund Treves, and real-life political figures such as

Edward Sexby Colonel Edward Sexby (or Saxby; 1616 – 13 January 1658) was an English Puritans, Puritan soldier and Levellers, Leveller in the army of Oliver Cromwell. Later he turned against Cromwell and plotted his assassination, which Sexby considered ty ...

and Thomas Rainborough.

References

External links

Publisher's website
with link to 71 pages from the book *, review *, review from Oxford local viewpoint *, review; note that true to its reputation ''The Grauniad'' misspells the author's name throughout *, review British historical novels Novels set during the English Civil War Novels set in Birmingham, West Midlands Novels set in Oxford Novels set in London Novels by Lindsey Davis 2009 British novels Century (imprint) books {{2000s-hist-novel-stub