The second in the Chronicle of the Lazender family, however you would be forgiven if you couldn’t recall the 1st as it was published in 1983 by Cornwell’s pseudonym (Susannah Kells) click here for the 1st book A Crowning Mercy.

Synopsis

The gilded family had been the envy and the pride of England for centuries. Never had the Lazenders seemed more powerful or more wealthy. And never had the unseen means of their destruction seemed so close…

Yet the heir to the estate was absent. Toby Lazender worked for the British in Revolutionary France – where he hunted down the men who had murdered the innocent girl he loved. It was his sister, Campion, who oversaw the family’s affairs at the ‘little kingdom’ of Lazen Castle.

But Lazen is, unknowingly, a house under siege. The Fallen Angels – among the most powerful and dangerous men in Europe – are plotting to bring revolution to England. To succeed, they need money, and the Lazender fortune can provide it. The key to the fortune is control of Campion’s future. A web of deceit closes around Lazen, drawing Campion ever closer to a subtle trap that has been laid just for her. Her only hope for survival lies with the Gypsy – her brother’s broodingly aloof horse-master – a man whose loyalties are at best uncertain.

The Fallen Angels is a powerful blend of passion, adventure and intrigue, played out in the shadow of the guillotine and the sunlit splendour of an English estate. It is a worthy successor to A Crowning Mercy, the first chronicle of the Lazender family.

Reviews

Bernard Cornwell is a literary miracle. Year after year, hail, rain, snow, war and political upheavals fail to prevent him from producing the most entertaining and readable historical novels of his generation.’ Daily Mail

About the Author

Born in Essex in 1944 Bernard Cornwell was adopted at the age of six weeks by two members of a strict fundamentalist sect called the Peculiar People. He grew up in a household that forbade alcohol, cigarettes, dances, television, conventional medicine and toy guns. Not surprisingly, he developed a fascination for military adventure. As a teenager he devoured CS Forester’s Hornblower novels and tried to enlist three times. Poor eyesight put paid to his dream, instead he went to university to read theology. On graduating, he became a teacher, then joined BBC’s Nationwide, working his way up the ladder to become head of current affairs at BBC Northern Ireland, then editor of Thames News. In 1979, his life changed when he fell in love with an American.   "Judy couldn’t live here, so I gave up my job and moved to the US. I couldn’t get a green card, and for 18 months the only thing I could do was write novels." The result was his first book about 19th century hero, Richard Sharpe, Sharpe’s Eagle. In addition to the hugely successful Sharpe novels, Bernard Cornwell is the author of the Starbuck Chronicles, the Warlord trilogy, the Grail Quest series, the Alfred series and standalone battle books Azincourt and The Fort.   Bernard Cornwell owns houses in Cape Cod and Florida and two boats. Every year he takes two months off from his writing and spends most of his time on his 24 foot Cornish crabber, Royalist. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation