Minette Walters

Who will save them from the gallows ? England, 1685. Decades after the end of the civil war, the country is once again divided when a pretender to the throne incites rebellion against King James II. Angered, the king orders every captured rebel to be hanged, drawn and quartered. As the country braces for carnage, the formidable Lady Jayne Harrier and her enigmatic son, assisted by the reclusive daughter of a local magistrate, contrive ways to save men from the gallows.
Secrets are kept and surprising friendships formed during the dark days of the Bloody Assizes, in a dangerous gamble to thwart a brutal king's thirst for vengeance...