Changes

Following an assault by the leader of the men, and forced to attack him to protect herself, she is later found unconscious and rescued, and taken in by a kind local parson and his wife. Initially, she has no recollection of who she is, and is so deep in shock she cannot speak. Eventually, however, she regains her strength and voice, and the soldiers responsible are hung for their crimes. All but one, who returns later in the story.

The story has various twists and turns, and whilst Sir Neville's behaviour is initially a little suspect, I didn't see the main turn of events coming. The book is certainly plot driven, and the cast of characters did seem at times slightly stereotypical and a little one-dimensional, but in general, they were believable. For anybody interested in historical detail, there isn't a great deal in the book, though personally I don't like to be overloaded with details, so this wasn't a problem for me. The story does have a touch of the melodrama of a 19th Century Gothic style novel, which I'm not sure if the authors intended or not. They clearly wanted to stress the plight of women of the period, who had very little agency over their own lives, and this is a theme which is repeated throughout.