Highwayman, a Boisterous, Bawdy Tale, (London 1666)
It is London 1666 and the plague is waning. The 2nd Anglo/Dutch war rages at sea. Lord Pilcher, a staunch Cromwell man, hates his grandson who followed King Charles II into exile. When Geoffrey returns to England, bereft and weary, he hopes for succor and support from his grandfather but Pilcher does everything he can to deny Geoffrey his inheritance. As a result, Geoffrey resorts to deceit. He steals goods and money from his grandfather that, by right, should be his.
After the death of their parents, Erasmus and Desiderius find Gentleman Jack and are welcomed into his gang of fellows. They learn sleight of hand, transfer stolen goods to cunning hidey-holes. They learn how to be nefarious and follow their leader’s skullduggery. Dodging the constables and the sheriff, will they be caught and hanged for highway robbery?
After the death of their parents, Erasmus and Desiderius find Gentleman Jack and are welcomed into his gang of fellows. They learn sleight of hand, transfer stolen goods to cunning hidey-holes. They learn how to be nefarious and follow their leader’s skullduggery. Dodging the constables and the sheriff, will they be caught and hanged for highway robbery?
Erasmus T. Muddiman, A Tale of Publick Distemper (London 1665)
It is London 1665, a year fraught with strange and unearthly events. Comets fly low in the sky while merchants clamor for war.
Eleven year old Erasmus T. Muddiman attends St Paul’s School with his younger brother. He enjoys Latin but hates to create Latin verses, preferring the new sciences as seen at the Royal Society. He plays football with the lads in Paul’s Yard, shimmies up the drainpipe outside his bedchamber window and he saves his brother, Desiderius, from all sorts of scrapes.
Soon, Erasmus cannot avoid the rumors of war. Men and boys are pressganged, taken to ships or the dockyards. Plague enters the city. As school fellows disappear, Erasmus and his family meet a terrible fate of survival. Who will live and who will die?
Eleven year old Erasmus T. Muddiman attends St Paul’s School with his younger brother. He enjoys Latin but hates to create Latin verses, preferring the new sciences as seen at the Royal Society. He plays football with the lads in Paul’s Yard, shimmies up the drainpipe outside his bedchamber window and he saves his brother, Desiderius, from all sorts of scrapes.
Soon, Erasmus cannot avoid the rumors of war. Men and boys are pressganged, taken to ships or the dockyards. Plague enters the city. As school fellows disappear, Erasmus and his family meet a terrible fate of survival. Who will live and who will die?
Pillars of Avalon (Newfoundland) by Katherine Pym and Jude Pittman (London & Newfoundland, New France, 17th century)
David and Sara Kirke live in a time of upheaval under the reign of King Charles I who gives, then takes. He gives David the nod of approval to range up and down the French Canadian shores, burning colonies and pillaging ships that are loaded with goods meant for the French.
When Louis XIII of France shouts his outrage, King Charles reneges. He takes David’s prizes and returns them to the French, putting David and his family in dire straits. Undeterred, David and Sara will not be denied. After years, the king relents. He knights David and gives him a grant for the whole of Newfoundland and Labrador. There David and Sara build a prosperous plantation. They trade fish and fish oil with colonies down the American coast, Barbados and ports of call in the Mediterranean. They thrive while England is torn in two by the civil wars. Soon, these troubles engulf his family. David is carried in chains back to England to stand trial for being a malignant, a follower of Laud's high church. He entreats Sara to manage the Ferryland plantation, a daunting task but with a strength that defies a stalwart man, she digs in and prospers, becoming the first entrepreneur of Newfoundland.
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