Hearts and Minds

by Jay Taverner

Into a far from peaceful English village comes the charismatic actor Mr Brown and his touring company. Lucy, a young black washerwoman, soon finds that Brown is not quite what he seems. But their snatched moments together will not keep her happy for long. As the atmosphere in the poverty-stricken village intensifies, charges of witchcraft and child murder lead to a series of tragedies and close escapes. A gripping eighteenth-century drama from a practised hand at historical fiction. Hearts and Minds takes up where Jay Taverner's popular first novel Rebellion (Onlywomen, 1997) left off, but is complete in itself.

Genres: LGBT, Historical Fiction, Lesbian

230 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2001

About the author

Jay Taverner is the pseudonym for the writing partnership of Jacky Bratton and Jane Traies.

Reviews

[Rohase Piercy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read the first book in this series, 'Rebellion', soon after it came out over twenty years ago, it was lovely to finally have the opportunity to catch up with Bell and Hope, now in middle age, and to find out how life was suiting them in rural Shropshire. This story immerses the reader in all the little details of country life in the 1730s … just before it finally became illegal to accuse a harmless countrywoman, living alone with only her animals for company, of witchcraft. This is the crisis that befalls one of Hope and Bell's neighbours whilst Bell is away on a visit to her brother, newly returned from America and a recent convert to the Quaker faith. Meanwhile, a feisty young women fleeing persecution by a self-styled 'witchfinder' seeks refuge with Hope ... The narrative is vivid and fast-paced and we encounter the issues of slavery, industrialisation, social injustice and, of course, love between women - at least one of whom we meet living very successfully as a 'gentleman of the theatre'! Wonderful stuff.