THE SWIFT & THE HARRIER by Minette Walters

I read THE SWIFT AND THE HARRIER second, so am reviewing it after reading THE PLAYERS, the second novel set in Dorset in the 1600s about the same family.

While THE PLAYERS is set in the 1680s, starting just after the death of Charles II on 6 February 1685, THE SWIFT AND THE HARRIER occurs around forty years earlier, in the 1640s, during the English Civil War.

Jayne Swift, a young woman of some twenty-six years, is hurrying into Dorchester because her female cousin has summoned her urgently. It turns out that Mistress Jayne is a doctor, which is a very unusual occupation for a woman in 17th-century England. Needless to say, on the very day when she must hurry to her cousin, the streets of Dorchester are absolutely jammed with people, on their way to see the execution of two Catholic priests. Along the way, Jayne takes shelter in a doorway, and when that door is opened sets eyes on a woman who is just as remarkable as herself. For Lady Alice Stickland is a painter, who specializes in portraits. Naturaly, she cannot possibly take credit for her talent, and so found a way of practicing her art by persuading an actor to act the part of the painter, while she sat in the shadows and actually painted the portrait herself.

Lady Alice takes a liking to Jayne, and suggests that her footman William escort her to her cousin’s house. Unfortunately, their journey takes them by the gallows and so the reader is “treated” to an extremely gruesome account of hanging, drawing and quartering. This part of the book is really not for the faint hearted, so I advise those of you who are sensitive to such matters to just skip over it, as the rest of the novel is really a treat.

When William finally deposits Jayne at her cousin’s house, we find that all the people within are on their knees in prayer in a darkened house with the windows closed. They are all terrified of Rachel’s husband, who has imposed Draconian Puritanical measures on his household, because he says they will help his dying son.

The two-year-old son, Isaac is suffering from croup, and Jayne immediately countermands the husband’s orders in order to save his life. She insists on having the windows opened, cauldrons of water boiled, and towels brought so that she can drape scented hot towels over herself and the child to ease his breathing. Realizing that the father is enjoying himself egging on the executioners, Jayne knows that she has a couple of hours at most to effect real changes in her cousin’s life.

And that is how THE SWIFT AND THE HARRIER opens. Jayne not only saves Isaac’s life, but she rescues her cousin from an abusive marriage.

So we know that Jayne Swift is the Swift of the title. But who is the Harrier? It turns out to be footman William, who is not really a footman at all, but rather posing as one. And that is how the two novels are tied together, for while THE PLAYERS opens with Jayne and William’s son Elias pretending to be a clergyman, THE SWIFT AND THE HARRIER opens with William pretending to be a footman.

Although more than one reader described this novel as too dry for enjoyment, I disagree. It probably helps to be a history buff, as I am. But I thought the characters of Jayne’s parents, her three brothers and the various people she met during the siege of Lyme were beautifully drawn. I have never heard of Minette Walters before, but I am now going to read some of her earlier books. 

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