by Minette Walters
Publisher: Allen & Unwin, 2024
Publisher’s blurb
A gripping tale of compassion, imposture, trickery and surprising alliances set against the backdrop of The Bloody Assizes, from the bestselling author of The Last Hours and The Swift and the Harrier.
The much-anticipated sequel to The Swift and The Harrier
England, 1685. Decades after the end of the civil war, the country is once again divided when Charles II’s illegitimate son, the Protestant Duke of Monmouth, arrives in Dorset to incite rebellion against his Catholic uncle.
Armed only with pitchforks, Monmouth’s army is quickly defeated by King James II’s superior forces and charged with high treason. Those found guilty will be hanged, drawn and quartered.
As Dorset braces for carnage, Lady Jayne Harrier and her enigmatic son, assisted by the reclusive daughter of a local magistrate, contrive ways to save men from the gallows.
Compelling and powerful, The Players is a story of guile, deceit and compassion during the dark days of The Bloody Assizes. Secrets are kept and surprising friendships formed in a dangerous gamble to thwart a brutal king’s thirst for vengeance …
Review
by Ruth Wykes
I have fond memories of Minette Walters when she used to write crime, and I didn’t know how I would go with The Players. After all, it doesn’t have many friends on my bookshelves: historical, set in the UK, and with a backdrop of the old and brutal British Monarchy. So why is it that days after reading the last page I’m still thinking about it?
Don’t worry, there’s plenty of crime. In those days you couldn’t plot an uprising against the King without joining the disturbingly long queue for your turn at the gallows. I found it amazing that a bunch of men with pitchforks took on the King’s Army. It was very David and Goliath, only with a different outcome. This was real life, it took place in 1685 during the reign of King James II, a short and savage period in British History known as The Bloody Assizes.
It was Walters’ characters who drew me in, especially the women. Lady Jane Harrier, who you might remember from The Swift and The Harrier, and the younger Althea Ettrick are strong characters. They are intelligent, articulate and both have a steel thread of courage running through them. I had moments where I wondered whether this was an accurate portrayal of women in the 1600s, but then again, I would have thought nobody was silly enough to fight the King with a pitchfork.
The characters are wonderfully developed. Minette Walters has a knack for drawing from a deep well when it comes to imaging her characters. She brings out their strengths and their flaws in surprising ways. A terrific example of this is her portrayal of the Hanging Judge, Lord Chief Justice George Jeffreys. He was the judge who presided over the trials of the traitors and it’s obvious where his nickname comes from. He should be loathed, and might have been in real life, but Walters gives him some health issues which see him enter the world of Lady Jane. Through her exchanges with him, especially the richness of their dialogue, we glimpse a vulnerability in Jeffreys.
I learned so much while reading The Players. I couldn’t believe the brutality of the British Monarchy at the time, and I found myself googling to try and separate out fact from fiction. I giggled to myself when I was revising my notes for this review. One of the last searches in my browser history was: what does it mean to be hung, drawn and quartered? Don’t ask that question, it’s gruesome. Walters must have done a truckload of research for this story because even the small details are accurate. The historic elements were truer than I’d ever imagined, and there were many moments that left me feeling angry. Thankfully the British Monarchy of today are a benevolent bunch, given that their bloodlines are tainted with the shadows of people like King James II.
I was immersed in the story and didn’t realise until I finished the book how much Walters had drawn me into her 17th Century world: her sense of place, the authenticity of the time, and characters that I wanted to be friends with.
Don’t be put off by the fact that this isn’t pure crime fiction. Minette Walters is a Queen to crime readers around this world, and The Players is a cracker of a read.