A Simple Mistake

Believing himself spurned by the woman he loves, Thomas
Davenport leaves Dorset, intent just to get away. He ends up in
Ireland, at the height of the 1689 James Stuart invasion. He meets
Tristan Browne, an Irishman born in Barbados, coming home to a
land in uproar.

The Siege of Londonderry, like so much in the Seventeenth
Century, puts countryman against countryman in a bitter war of
attrition, starvation and resilience. Bridget Browne is caught up in
it and writes a startling account, full of insight.

Unknown to Thomas, his brother Matthew is also in Ireland,
wishing only to be on the pulpit in his native Dorset, but his sense
of duty prevails.

Thrown together by fate, the four must flee Ireland when
Matthew uncovers a corrupt scheme, the work of old adversary
Parchman, who is also wreaking havoc back home in Dorset.

Can Great Little and Bagber Manor survive as we have come to
know them, or will Parchman succeed and see his foes out on the
streets, beggar bowl in hand?

As we move relentlessly towards the modern age, our heroes and
villains have their own struggles, which build into the drama of an
extraordinary nation in the making.