Reviewed by Rod McLary
In February 1685, the Catholic James II succeeded his brother Charles II as King of England. A group of dissident Protestants attempted to depose James II and in his stead place Charles’ illegitimate son James Duke of Monmouth on the throne. This ill-considered rebellion ended with the defeat of the Duke at the Battle of Sedgemoor and his beheading for treason on 15 July 1685. This lead inevitably to the punishment of his supporters especially those located around Dorset where this novel is set. The subsequent trials of the supporters became known as the Bloody Assizes. And they were presided over by the Lord Chief Justice George Jeffreys.
In Dorchester, some three hundred prisoners – erstwhile supporters of the Duke of Monmouth – await their trials and their inevitable death. This punishment had been meted out to an elderly gentlewoman Dame Alice Lisle on 2 September 1685 because the law did not distinguish between principals and accessories in treason. The name ‘Bloody Assizes’ was well and truly deserved.
This is the historical context for Minette Walters’ latest book The Players. The key protagonists include Lady Jayne Harrier – whom readers would remember from The Swift and the Harrier, her 43-year-old son Elias Duke of Granville, Althea the daughter of Mister Anthony Ettrick the local magistrate, and George Jeffreys. Some forty odd years have elapsed since the events in The Swift and the Harrier and Jayne Swift married William Harrier who later became Duke of Granville. William has since died and the title has passed to his son Elias.
Each of the protagonists is intelligent, articulate and forthright in opinion – although in George Jeffreys, these qualities are tempered by his irascibility and ill-health. It is a feature of Minette Walters’ novels – whether her psychological thrillers or historical fiction – that they are crafted with strong intelligent women in the forefront. A reader could be forgiven for thinking that in the seventeenth-century such women were rare. But this exchange between Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys and Lady Jayne would soon disabuse that notion:
I have never known a woman to behave and speak as you do, Lady Harrier.
You don’t watch or listen hard enough. [196]
At the heart of the novel – but without drawing attention away from the primary narrative – lies the developing relationship between Elias and Althea. Our first introduction to them occurs when Elias – disguised as the Reverend Houghton – visits the house of Mister Ettrick where he encounters Althea: ‘her black hair resembled an untamed briar bush … her feet were bare of both stockings and shoes … and one was withered and crooked’ [50]. But her intellect was another matter – as her father says: ‘she’s the joy of my life when she’s not reprimanding me for small infractions of law. logic or philosophy’ [47].
But behind the interpersonal dynamics between the protagonists are the forthcoming trials of the local supporters of Monmouth and their likely death by drawing and quartering – the punishment for treason. Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys was known colloquially as the ‘hanging judge’ with good reason and was ‘reported to revel in the fear he inspired’ [155]. Elias – a master of disguise – is central to the efforts to save the supporters from a painful death and instead encourage the commuting of their punishment to transportation to the West Indies. The journey to the port at Bristol allows for many opportunities for the prisoners to slip away – especially if false shipping manifests and communications have been created.
As significant as the backdrop is to the narrative, the novel comes alive with the dialogue between the protagonists. Whether it is Lady Jayne gradually winning over the bad-tempered Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys with her wit, intelligence and medical skills, or Althea winning Elias’ heart with her sharp incisive mind – and her sparkling eyes – or simply the dialogue between any of the players, it is a joy to read and hear it in the mind’s ear; and on occasion to pursue the threads of the legal arguments.
Minette Walters has again crafted historical fiction which stands as both an accurate representation of a dark time in English history and romance infused with wit and intelligence. The historical element of the novel concludes with – appropriately – the Glorious Revolution in 1688 when Princess Mary [daughter of James II] and her husband William of Orange [grandson of Charles I] were invited to the throne. But the personal continues for a little longer and concludes most satisfactorily.
An enjoyable novel on every level, and well recommended to all lovers of literate historical fiction.
The Players
[2024]
by Minette Walters
Allen and Unwin
ISBN 978 1 76147 183 4
$34.99; 471pp
QRC has interviewed Minette Walters. Click here to read the interview.