Rhona Martin
Author of Writing Historical Fiction
About the Author
Works by Rhona Martin
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
Members
Reviews
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 5
- Members
- 110
- Popularity
- #176,729
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 2
- ISBNs
- 22
- Languages
- 3
It is painfully clear to Hazel that she will not survive without a man to protect her, and so she snags a husband the best way she can--by claiming him from the gallows. She has modest but naive dreams of a settled life with John Pengerran, or Black John, as he is known, but he has different dreams, the pursuit of which dooms them both.
Martin has extensively researched this debut novel but she seamlessly (and subtly) weaves historical fact into her narrative like a master of the genre. Although Hazel falls in love with John, this is not a romance in the usual sense of the term insofar as Martin never strays far from the nasty, brutish realities of the period for the yeoman (or women of any class, for that matter). John is no modern-day sensitive, liberated male in period costume, and Hazel, smart and spunky though she may be, in the end cannot beat the system.
The characters are engaging, the setting vividly imagined, and the pacing is spot-on (except for some long, confusing dream-like sequences). Martin hooks the reader on the first page and her story gathers speed and momentum until the very last, making this book impossible to put down.… (more)