Taylor’s beautiful use of language, fine historical backgrounding – many readers will find more than a nod to the diaries of one Samuel Pepys – make this a clever and consuming tapestry of a book which draws you into a complicated, but in the end very simple, story. She is the stronger and more ambiguous character, surprisingly modern in both outlook and reaction to adversity. He relates much of the always believable action in the first person and his gentle, sometimes frustrated, relationship with his dementia-affected father provides a touching counterpoint to the world of envy, self-seeking, debauchery, machinations and brutality in which he finds himself.Ĭatherine’s story is told almost entirely in the third person, which I thought rather a shame. Marwood is the better-drawn everyman, trying to do right, trying to advance in the world while being unwillingly dragged into murder, plots and political secrets. When Cat is raped by her cousin, she tries to kill him and is forced into hiding. Marwood, the son of another old puritan, is a minor civil servant whose only desire is to live down his notorious name and make his way in the world. She is a spirited teenager who dreams of becoming an architect and escaping an unsatisfactory marriage her aunt and uncle have arranged. Both are affected and their actions shaped by forces beyond their control. Catherine Lovett is daughter of a regicide – one of that small circle directly involved in the trail and execution of the king’s father. James Marwood is the son of a Republican, who lost everything when Charles II regained the throne. He has been killed by an expert assassin with his thumbs bound behind his back.Įnter the story’s two main protagonists. As damage clearance begins, a body, one of many in the fire’s debris, is discovered. The Great Fire has destroyed the city from the Tower to the Temple, even its centrepiece, St Paul’s, succumbing to the flames. Absolute Puritans may be older but are no less fanatic, particularly the ‘Fifth Monarchists’ – a group proscribed even by Cromwell – who still seek to destroy the king whose father they executed to pave the way for ‘King Jesus.’

The monarchy has been restored, but old hatreds die hard. If it opens a little slowly, the pace soon picks as the reader is engaged by the copious detail which is Andrew Taylor’s hallmark. This is both a chilling murder mystery and a transporting historical novel.

The ashes of london