About the book: Joan Pryce is not only a Catholic during the English Reformation but also Welsh, and comes from a family of proud revolutionaries. But when a small act of defiance entangles her in a deadly conspiracy, a single misstep may lead her straight to the gallows. Now, Joan must navigate a twisting path that could cost her life, her freedom, and her chance of finding love.
My review: This book was amazing to me on so many levels. I liked Joan, I was saddened for her from the very beginning of the story. She's just lost her father, and she knows that he died because of his Catholic religion. She's about to lose her home because her father's successor's are kicking her out of it. And she wants to continue in her Catholic religion, a lot of that has to do with her dead mother's teachings, but she knows that her life will end the exact same way that her father's just did. So she takes courage and goes to her godparent's home, hoping that she will be able to find a bit of normalcy there, but she really doesn't, just more sadness.
I loved the cast of characters in this book. Joan is amazing! There are so many lesser characters that you catch a glimpse of, and that glimpse is amazing. Nicholas Bowen, he seems to be something of an anomaly, Joan knows him to be Catholic and at one point it was his father's and her father's greatest wish for them to marry. But something has changed with him and Joan is unsure why. Father Davies, one of the Catholic Priests who had to live in hiding during this dark time. He was unable to help her father in anyway, mainly because he wasn't asked to. And so many more, amazing people everyone of them.
I was amazed at just how much this book made me feel. I felt sorrow for the oppression that these people went through. Joy at the little bits of happiness they were able to find or steal for themselves. Courage at the courage that Joan and many others like her had to be able to be themselves during this hard time. Make sure you pick up this great book, I learned so much from it!
I was sent an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
About the author: E.B. Wheeler grew up in Georgia and California. She earned her BA in history from BYU and has graduate degrees in history and landscape architecture from Utah State University. With Welsh ancestors on one side of her family and crypto-Catholics on the other, she’s been fascinated by the story of Welsh Catholics since writing about them in her master’s thesis. She’s the award-winning author of “The Haunting of Springett Hall” and lives in northern Utah with her family.Labels: Cedar Fort, clean fiction, E B Wheeler, Historical fiction
