London 1666. Elizabeth 'Bird' Carpenter has a wonderful singing voice, and music is her passion. When her father persuades her to marry horse-dealer Christopher Knepp, she suspects she is marrying beneath her station, but nothing prepares her for the reality of life with Knepp. He is a tyrant and a bully and will allow Bird no life of her own. When Knepp goes away, she makes a secret visit to the theatre. Entranced, she falls in love with the theatre and is determined to forge a path of her own as an actress. But a jealous rival wants to spoil her plans, and worse, Knepp forbids it, and Bird must use all her wit and intelligence to change his mind.
The third in Deborah Swift's atmospheric trilogy, bringing to life the women in Pepys' Diary.
Praise for the Pepys Trilogy: "Pepys and his world spring to vibrant life...Gripping, revealing and stunningly imagined." LANCASHIRE EVENING POST
The second novel in the Mr Pepys series by popular historical novelist Deborah Swift, featuring the Great Plague
Sometimes money costs too much.
The Great Plague has London in its grip. As the summer heat rises, red crosses mark the doors, wealthy citizens flee and only the poor remain to face the march of death.
Ambitious and attractive, Bess Bagwell is determined her carpenter husband, Will, should make a name for himself and schemes to meet Samuel Pepys, diarist, friend of the King and an important man in the Navy shipyards.
But Pepys has his own motive for cultivating Bess, and it's certainly not to benefit her husband.
With pestilence rife in the city, all trade ceases. Will is forced to invest in his unscrupulous cousin Jack's dubious 'cure' for the pestilence which horrifies Bess and leaves them deeper in debt.
Now they are desperate for money and the dreaded disease is moving ever closer. Will Pepys honour his promises or break them?
Deb Willet takes a position as companion to Elisabeth Pepys, Samuel's wife. Deb believes it will give her the respectability she craves but it proves far more complicated than she could ever have imagined. Samuel Pepys' influence in Restoration London means that the Dutch are keen to get their hands on his secrets, even if that means murder. Deb is soon caught up in a dangerous game while at the same time trying to counter Mr Pepys' lust for her...
