January 30th 1649. England is not a country that wishes to execute its divinely-appointed king. Yet Charles 1 finds himself shivering on a scaffold in Whitehall, with the axe man by his side . . . In this brilliantly atmospheric novel, Simon Parke explores one of the most gripping tales in English history by weaving together four coinciding stories, those of Charles, including his extraordinary year-long imprisonment on the Isle of Wight . . . Robert Hammond, the poor man who found himself the kings gaoler . . . Charles remarkable mistress (written out of the records) the super-spy Jane Whorwood . . . and of course, the brilliant and depressed Oliver Cromwell working through his own demons of religion, politics, love and death.
