This is the last of the Mantlemass books; I hope to be able to find and read the previous books in the series that I haven’t yet read. But having read four of the eight I think I’ve got a sense of them. They definitely don’t view the past through rose-coloured glasses; people die; lose houses; change class upwards or downwards. (Although there are more marriages ‘for love’ than would be historically plausible.)

In this last book set during the English Civil War the horrors of war are portrayed at second-hand; except for a few individual deaths sieges and battles are told, not shown. I did wonder how suitable this series was for the children of 11+ that it was written for, but the books all do end with a moment of hope, if not a traditional happy ending.

Part of the enjoyment of the series has been watching the development of several families through the generations. I would have loved Willard to write the history of the Medleys beyond this book, especially in the New World, but the books are so settled in a particular place that I can see why she didn’t. The forest is as much a character as any of the humans, and the series couldn’t leave it.