Scotland, 1685Part 6 in Ethyl Smith's Times series that eloquently portrays the lives of ordinary men and women in 17th century Scotland as they fought to survive in extraordinary times.Billy Kay, author of Scots: The Mither Tongue"As an Ayrshire man whose home town of Galston has a kirkyaird with a 17th century gravestone depicting a local man being killed by the troops of Bluidy Claverhoose, the stories of the Covenanters have alway...

The summer of 1679 is a dark one for the Covenanters, routed by government troops at the Battle of Bothwell Brig. John Steel is on the run, hunted for his part in the battle by the vindictive Earl of Airlie. And life is no easier for the hapless Sandy Gillon, curate of Lesmahagow Kirk, in the Earl's sights for aiding John Steel's escape.Outlawed and hounded, the surviving rebels have no choice but to take to the hills and moors to evade capture and deportation. And as a hard winter...

July 1680: Richard Cameron is dead, and John Steel and Lucas Brotherstone have only just escaped capture by government forces.The net widens to arrest anyone suspected of Covenanter sympathies, and the army becomes ever more brutal in its suppression of the rebels.To have any hope of survival Lucas Brotherstone must escape to Holland, and John Steel is determined to make this happen.Desperate Times is the third historical novel in Ethyl Smith's series, following Cha...

Longlisted: Not The Booker Prize 20161679 - The Killing TimesCharles II is on the throne, the Episcopacy has been restored, and southern Scotland is in ferment.The King is demanding superiority over all things spiritual and temporal and rebellious Ministers are being ousted from their parishes for refusing to bend the knee.When John Steel steps in to help one such Minister in his home village of Lesmahagow he finds himself caught up in events that reverberat...

Scotland, 1685With Monmouth and Argyll planning to overthrow James VII and II, the Covenanters see an opportunity to further their own cause, but dissent among the faithful causes factions to start appearing.As tensions heighten and rumours of an invasion spread, John Steele must continue to evade capture in an ever-tightening net.From the shepherds and the farmer's wives of the Lanarkshire hills, to the innkeepers, the apothecaries and the washerwomen of the towns,...

Broken Times – Part IV in this gripping seriesScotland 1683As James Renwick returns to Scotland, accompanied by the young Jonas Hawthorne, in search of adventure, an undeterred John Steel is still living the life of a fugitive, hunted day and night by Claverhouse's men.When John and Jonas reunite, Jonas soon finds himself caught up in the intrigues of 17th century Scotland: amid accusations of witchcraft and almost constant acts of violence, it seems that no-one can...