A Crowning Mercy

Dorcas Slythe grows up in a rigid Puritan household during the English Civil War, unaware that an inheritance has made her the target of men prepared to use murder, fraud and religious authority to seize it. After escaping her family, she enters a country divided between Parliament and the king and discovers that her identity is bound to a wider political conspiracy.

The novel follows Dorcas as she moves through wartime England, pursued by enemies who understand the value of her claim better than she does. Her struggle for independence unfolds against civil conflict, sectarian suspicion and the collapse of ordinary legal protections.