It is eleven-year-old Alfie who finds him first.
Displaced from his own home by the bombs falling on
London, Alfie is living at the gamekeeper's house and had
been out that early May morning in 1941 checking on traps
for meat. As soon as he sees the man lying face down in
the field at the Farleigh estate, he knows that this man
is also displaced from where he should be and that he is
dead. Just as Alfie realizes the soldier must have
fallen from the sky as his parachute had not opened, he
hears the sound of a pony's hooves and tries to stop a
young girl from running over the dead man.
Although the youngest of five sisters of Roderick Sutton,
the Earl of Westerham, twelve-year-old Phoebe knows how
to command a situation. She is going to be the one to
tell her father. He does his duty as expected, but Lord
Westerham is miffed that he is now forced to live in only
one wing of his lovely ancestral home as the army has
been billeted in other wings. The war is so
inconvenient.
The dead man is dressed like the West Kent soldiers on
his estate at Farleigh, but there are small oddities
about him that the officer with him notices. Is he a
member of the regiment or a German spy? Lord Westerham
has no idea about how this dead man will affect him and
his family in the future. He also has no idea about what
his daughters are up to. How is the war affecting them?
Already well-known for her humourous and intriguing
mystery series, including Royal Spyness, Constable Evans
and Molly Murphy, New York Times best-selling author Rhys
Bowen has created IN FARLEIGH FIELD, a classic World War
II story of espionage, traitors and life on the
homefront. While the wins and losses of battles are an
ever-present concern, Bowen effectively sets her
standalone mystery in the English homefront and the
struggles they encounter as the war drags on.
Written as a standalone mystery, IN FARLEIGH FIELD is an
easy to read, yet very intriguing story that focuses on
three main characters and how their lives and actions
intersect and affect each other as well as the lives of
their families. Bowen opens IN FARLEIGH FIELD with a
dramatic incident involving Ben Cresswell, the local
Vicar's son and his closest friend, the handsome and
daring Jeremy Prescott, the only son of a wealthy
aristocratic family. They are also both very close to
Pamela Sutton, Westerham's middle daughter, who loves
both of them in different ways. How will the war affect
their relationships with each other? Can they still trust
each other like they did before when they were young?
What will happen if the Germans invade?
With her excellent background research work, Bowen
quickly and vividly brings this dark period of the war to
life and we feel the impact that the war has on the
British from those totally committed to their patriotic
duty to those who just want the war over by any means,
fair or foul. While there is some predictability in
some of the characters (and of course we all know the
overall ending) IN FARLEIGH FIELD is a delightful work of
historical fiction. Bowen does an awesome job in
capturing the mood and feelings of the times, the stress
on people involved in important roles to keep things
confidential, even from their own families as well as
the dark underside of some of the aristocracy who may be
inclined to help the Germans, so they can get back to the
lifestyle they wish to have.
Bowen's many fans and readers who like historical fiction
with a nice little mystery parachuted in are sure to
enjoy IN FARLEIGH FIELD! I know I just had to keep pages
turning to find out what happens next IN FARLEIGH FIELD!
Enjoy!
World War II comes to Farleigh Place, the ancestral home of
Lord Westerham and his five daughters, when a soldier with a
failed parachute falls to his death on the estate. After his
uniform and possessions raise suspicions, MI5 operative and
family friend Ben Cresswell is covertly tasked with
determining if the man is a German spy. The assignment also
offers Ben the chance to be near Lord Westerham’s middle
daughter, Pamela, whom he furtively loves. But Pamela has
her own secret: she has taken a job at Bletchley Park, the
British code-breaking facility.
As Ben follows a trail of spies and traitors, which may
include another member of Pamela’s family, he discovers that
some within the realm have an appalling, history-altering
agenda. Can he, with Pamela’s help, stop them before England
falls?
Inspired by the events and people of World War II, writer
Rhys Bowen crafts a sweeping and riveting saga of class,
family, love, and betrayal
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