A True Story of a Devon Town in Turmoil

Today, I am delighted to have the wonderful Janet Few stop by at PB HQ to share her new novel and reveal it’s beautiful cover. Please help yourself to a glass of bubbly, make yourself comfortable and find out about this true story from Devon, UK.

Sins as Red as Scarlet

the true story of a Devon town in turmoil

It is 1682. Across the land, the Age of Reason has begun; scientific thought is ousting superstitious belief. The menacing days of the witchfinder have all but gone. Nevertheless, in Devon’s county town, three impoverished women are approaching the gallows, condemned to death for the crime of witchcraft. They come from the prosperous port of Byddeforde. There we find the rich merchants, the flourishing tobacco warehouses and the bustle of ships setting sail for the Newfoundland cod-banks. Yet, barely hidden, are layers of intolerance and antagonism that have built up over decades. A time of plague, of war, of religious dissent; all of which have fashioned the prejudices and fears of the town’s inhabitants.

In an alternative 2020, sixteen-year-old Martha, herself a bullies’ target, undertakes a school local history project. As she immerses herself in the lives of Bideford’s seventeenth century residents, the intertwining stories of these years are told through the eyes of real people who lived at the time. Probing the motivations and beliefs of Bideford’s seventeenth century residents, Martha comes to understand how past events might lead ordinary people to become the victims, the accusers, or the accused.

Sins as Red as Scarlet is the fictionalised but impeccably researched, unfolding of the history of a town and its inhabitants over forty tumultuous years. We follow Martha’s research as she realises that human nature does not change; intolerance and peer pressure have always exerted their power. Yet there have been and still are, those who stand aside from the bigotry and the victimisation. As the school project draws to a close, Martha finds a new resilience, enabling her to rise above those who seek to demean her.

Devon artist, Robin Paul of The Branch Line https://www.facebook.com/TheBranchLine, has produced the powerful cover for the book. The author has also worked with musician Dan Britton http://www.chrisconway.org/dan.html, who has composed an evocative companion song for Sins as Red as Scarlet This track, together with two others on a similar theme, will be available from 29 August, along with the book.

For details of how to pre-order please see https://thehistoryinterpreter.wordpress.com/historical-novels/sins-as-red-as-scarlet-the-story-of-a-devon-town-in-turmoil/