Murky Waters

A piece of historical fiction taking the reader back to the Tudor period of the 1540s for a story set in Devon. Henry VIII's greedy eyes are upon the magnificent collegiate church of Ottery St Mary. No-one thinks he'd dare touch it. Thomas Tylsum saw it all before at nearby Dunkeswell Abbey. He knows what's coming. This is a Tudor tale of destruction, deceit and diplomacy. It tells how the lives of ordinary folk, shepherds and inn keepers are caught up in tumultuous times whilst the local gentry, like John Haydon, share in the spoils and try to keep a lid on an exploding community. Ottery's magnificent chained library and its hundreds of precious books are no longer safe, nor is anyone. A way of life is under threat. First the Dissolution, then nearby Exeter is besieged by a Western Rising. Civil war is coming. No-one would wish to be in the Otter valley in the 1540s. In these murky waters the river Otter sees everything.