‘Stand or I fire.‘ I flattened myself against Fairy’s neck and urged her into a gallop, praying I could lose them in the fog. I heard the crack of the carbine and a shot whistled by my ear. I galloped back towards Basing, branches whipping at my clothes and clods of earth flying up from Fairy’s hooves. She was sweating heavily but her pace did not falter. Looming out of the fog I could make out the ramparts of the Old House, the dim outlines of the turrets of the New House beyond it. From behind me came the muffled hoof beats of the two horses. Were they gaining on me? I could not tell.

England in the year 1642. Civil War is brewing between King Charles I and his Puritan Parliament. For brothers Will and Harry Lucie, life as officers in the King’s cavalry promises excitement and adventure. But there is danger and suffering ahead for the brothers and their sister Bess. Fortunes of war throw Harry together with grieving widower Gabriel who seeks only escape and oblivion. None of their lives will ever be the same again.

From the slaughter of Edgehill to the defence of doomed fortress Basing House, the story of dishonour and betrayal plays out against the backdrop of “this war without an enemie”.