Dorset, England, is a perilous place in 1642. Disagreements between the king and Parliament have led to civil war. Mistress Jayne Swift is hurrying through the city of Dorchester to save an ill child. THE SWIFT AND THE HARRIER meet in a crowd and come to each other’s aid over the next few years. As a Dorset physician who can’t call herself one, Jayne Swift applies sensible home remedies to her patients. None of this fasting and leeching. She recommends warmth, cool water, nourishing broth, or custard. The little boy she must treat is the son of Jayne's cousin Ruth. Ruth has sent for her in desperation, because her mean, fervently Puritan and political husband engaged a doctor who is making the child worse, not better. The handsome footman William Harrier, who serves Lady Alice Stickland, comes to Jayne’s aid. She picked a bad day to travel. Two priests are to be tortured and hanged. We don’t think of the religious and political aggressions in Britain as being like the Spanish Inquisition, but it seems the Puritanism that opposed King Charles I was no different. Everyone envied the gentry and anyone with money; we see that soldiers were not paid, so they started imposing themselves on inns and stealing from farms. More than once, William protects Jayne. Later, as the tale unfolds at intervals over the next years, Jayne sets up a hospital to care for victims of a siege. I have visited the coastal town of Lyme Regis, but I didn’t know it was besieged. The detail is strongly written and some readers may find elements of this story upsetting. To counter the cruelty, we see Jayne’s determination to treat all patients equally, of whatever rank, wealth or persuasion. That’s perhaps too modern an attitude, as is her studied independence and wish to go about unchaperoned. But if she stayed in the kitchen making herbal tonics, we would not get to see the sights through her eyes. Minette Walters has researched carefully and provided an unusual historical romantic suspense story. William Harrier is a much-layered character, who acts as a footman or a knight at times, confident and skilled beyond the average domestic servant. Jayne doesn’t change much, except for learning to be even less trusting than at the start. THE SWIFT AND THE HARRIER are well matched and describe the turbulent years of the Civil War in the south of England. Any history buffs will enjoy the read.
When bloody civil war breaks out between the king and Parliament, families and communities across England are riven by different allegiances.
A rare few choose neutrality.
One such is Jayne Swift, a Dorset physician from a Royalist family, who offers her services to both sides in the conflict. Through her dedication to treating the sick and wounded, regardless of belief, Jayne becomes a witness to the brutality of war and the devastation it wreaks.
Yet her recurring companion at every event is a man she should despise because he embraces civil war as the means to an end. She knows him as William Harrier, but is ignorant about every other aspect of his life. His past is a mystery and his future uncertain.
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