1558: Twelve children, gifted far beyond their years, are banished by their Tudor queen to the town of Rotherweird. Some say they are the golden generation; some say the devil's spawn. But everyone knows they are something to be revered - and feared.
Four and a half centuries on, cast adrift from the rest of England by Elizabeth I and still bound by its ancient laws, Rotherweird's independence is subject to one disturbing condition: nobody, but nobody, studies the town or its history.
Then an Outsider arrives, a man of unparalleled wealth and power, enough to buy the whole of Rotherweird - deeply buried secrets and all.
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One for sorrow: Mary Tudor, a magpie queen - dress black, face chill white, pearls hanging in her hair like teardrops - stands in the pose of a woman with child, her right palm flat across her swollen belly. OLD HISTORY, FEBRUARY 1558, ST JAMES'S PALACE, LONDON
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(@JoFletcherBooks, 25 April 2017, 480 pages, e-book, bought from @AmazonKindle)
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This has been on my radar / TBR list for a couple of years. I don't know why it took me so long to finally get round to reading it. I knew I wanted to read the book when I read the blurb, the book sounded crazy fun. It was. It reminds me a lot of the Mythago Wood series by Robert Holdstock for some reason. Rotherweird is such a unique, fun and interesting read. The book includes flashbacks to the strange history of the town from 1558 which was a fascinating read. A lot of questions aren't answered so I'll need to read the other two books to understand the whole story. Just what gifts did the twelve children have? Why did the queen think they were evil? What is the Outsider's true motivation and plans? I enjoyed this a lot.
