Cause for Lament

By Oliver Woodman

England. 1650s. As the strife of the English Civil War subsides, Oliver Cromwell is now Lord Protector. But the Royalists are not finished yet…

After the shock of civil war, life seems to be getting back to normal for the simple folk of the beautiful Suffolk village of Monks Soham, until suddenly they find themselves faced again with dreadful choices and divided loyalties. The revelation that there is a plot to kill Oliver Cromwell somehow comes as no surprise to Josiah Souter, a former Ironsides officer. He is, however, horrified that the threat comes from Cromwell’s erstwhile friends.

Why then does Josiah’s old cavalry corporal Isaiah Yates come knocking on his door one night, begging for a hiding place? What is the secret that Isaiah shares with Lady Anne, wife of Royalist sympathiser Sir Roger Harrington? Why does Noel Kimber, a deserter from the Army of Parliament, also seek refuge on the Souter farm? What of the future freedoms of the people if Cromwell were to die?

These are questions that need urgent answers in Oliver Woodman’s latest English Civil War saga, Cause for Lament. Woodman has again produced a fast-paced and engaging story that gives readers a fascinating insight into a pivotal moment in British history.

Oliver Woodman’s working life gave him a wonderful training in the written and spoken word. But history was always a great love, as was communicating its fascination. Immersion in the seventeenth century began with childhood lectures over Sunday lunch from his father. Apart from recreating a luxuriant historical texture, Oliver Woodman’s main achievement is to look at choices from different points of view and provide an insight into how attitudes and beliefs reflect the worlds into which we are born and live. Other historical fiction by Oliver Woodman includes Cruel Necessity and Man of Blood.