The Ravished Earth

In a full-blooded sequel to Master of Morholm , Wilson returns to the mist-shrouded fens of East Anglia, where a bitter family feud is played out. Indigenous to the fens are the Hardwicks, whose ancestral seat is at Morholm; Joshua Walsoken is a newcomer, a prospering merchant with designs on the area's vacant expanses. Walsoken, a Bible-spouting hypocrite, meets opposition head on. Within his own family his high-spirited daughter Rebecca defies him, first by her attention to the rural poor and then by her love for Luke Taplin, a handsome, rough fenman, who is also an illegitimate member of the Hardwick clan. As the Hardwick-Walsoken feud waxes, we follow family members to London where the anti-Catholic Gordon riots are in full flower; back in East Anglia, an unfair court trial solidifies family enmities. Wilson expertly intertwines many strands and subplots to create a vivid and vigorous historical novel. (Feb.)