The Rage of Fortune

The story begins in 1651, just after the Battle of Worcester, the final conflict of the British Civil Wars.

Eleven-year-old Matthew Junior and his twin sister, Henrietta, are exploring an abandoned corner of their family home when they discover the long-forgotten papers of their grandfather.

But their findings are interrupted by the arrival of Roundhead troops intent on searching for their elder brother, the tenth Earl of Ravensden, who has been seriously wounded in the Cavalier cause.

Gradually, the papers of the old Earl and of some of those who knew him – including the recollections of his wife, Matthew and Herry’s grandmother – start to paint a picture of a very different world.

Dating back to the year 1598, they depict the world at the turn of the seventeenth century, when England was still fighting a seemingly endless war against Spain, when William Shakespeare was writing Henry V and Julius Caesar, and when the whole country was obsessed by the question of who would succeed the ageing Queen Elizabeth.

The Rage of Fortune is set against the backdrop of a series of real historical events, depicting naval actions such as the affairs of Invisible Armada, and at the Battles of Castlehaven, Kinsale and Sesimbra Bay, as well as intrigues over the succession to the English throne.

Epic sword fights and dramatic naval battles will delight readers of historical fiction, both those new to the Quinton series and especially those who have followed the series thus far.