Book review - Dawnlands

 * A huge thank you to Anne from Random Things Tours, for inviting me on the tour and for having a copy of Dawnlands sent to me in exchange for an honest review!

Dawnlands by Philippa Gregory

Dawnlands is the third book in the Fairmile series. Set in the 1680s, England is on the brink of a renewed civil war against the Stuart kings and many families are bitterly divided. The series focuses on Ned Ferryman and his sister, Alinor’s family. Ned once again joins a rebel army and fights for what he believes is right. This time he is joined by Rowan, who he saved from slavery, disguised as his boy servant. The free-spirited and stubborn Rowan is Pokanoket, and believes she needs to stay with Ned until her debt to him is paid off, which she does later in the book when she takes Ned’s place in prison and goes to Barbados to become a slave. Alinor, meanwhile has been coaxed by the manipulative Livia to save the queen from the coming siege. The rewards are life-changing: the family could return to their beloved Tidelands, and Alinor could rule where she was once lower than a servant. Alinor was my favourite character, now old and ill, but we get glimpses of her when she was younger amid her epic love story from the previous books. Alinor’s children and grandchildren feature heavily in the story too, as well as the manipulative Livia who is fabulously evil!

The parts of the story set in Barbados highlight the monstrous attitudes and behaviours of slave owners, and how easy it was to become taken in by the promise of sugar and money, as Johnnie finds out when he travels there to save Rowan, but instead gets caught up in dirty money himself. I was also very interested in the caves and the underground world that Rowan later finds in Barbados.

I really enjoyed this book; Philippa Gregory is a master storyteller and I have many of her Plantagenet and Tudor novels. I was a little worried I wouldn’t enjoy Dawnlands as much, because I don’t know a great deal about the 17^th century – I am still enjoying my love affairs with the 15^th, 16^th & 18^th centuries - However, I couldn’t put it down! I also liked that Philippa provided the reader with a family tree of her characters and a Bibliography. Although the author weaves the previous books into this one, I do think you’re best to read Tidelands and Dark Tides before starting Dawnlands. There are a lot of characters and so much has happened, it would get very confusing if you weren’t already familiar with the story. The book ends very abruptly, and I am hoping that there will be another addition to the series in the future. I really need to know what happens next!

 You can buy a copy from your local bookshop or here now!

About Philippa Gregory:

Philippa Gregory is the author of many bestselling novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl, and is a recognised authority on women's history. Her Cousins' War novels, reaching their dramatic conclusion with The King's Curse, were the basis for the highly successful BBC series, The White Queen. Philippa's other great interest is the charity that she founded over twenty years ago: Gardens for the Gambia. She has raised funds and paid for over 200 wells in the primary schools of this poor African country. Philippa graduated from the University of Sussex and holds a PhD and Alumna of the Year 2009 at Edinburgh University. In 2016, she received the Harrogate Festival Award for Outstanding Contribution to Historical Fiction. Philippa lives with her family on a small farm in Yorkshire.

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