Title: Lost and Won
Author: Sarah Ann Watts
Publisher: Silver Publishing
Pages: 77
Characters: Phillip, Francis
POV: 3rd
Sub-Genre: Historical
Kisses: 3
Blurb:
‘There was a battle and you lost.’ Philip prayed never to see Francis again. Now the man who stole his heart is his prisoner, staking his life on Philip’s honour. All Philip has to do is let him go.
1651: the Battle of Worcester is lost and won. Charles Stuart is a fugitive with a price on his head and Cromwell has the ‘crowning mercy’ of victory. Philip, a sober, respectable young man, fought bravely for the parliamentary cause and is looking forward to peace at his own hearth.
Francis, his lover and childhood friend, returns to make peace with his dying father and to give back Philip’s heart.
Soon Philip finds himself reluctantly sheltering a royalist spy and protecting the witch in his family.
Philip’s duty is clear and Francis staked his life on his honour. All he has to do is let Francis go. But how can Francis ask Philip to deliver him to justice?
Review:
It’s the year 1651 and in the bloody aftermath of the Battle of Worcester Oliver Cromwell is ruler of England and Charles Stuart is in exile. Philip is a young soldier who served the Commonwealth and Francis is his childhood friend and lover who fought for the exiled king.
Not long after Philip returns home, he finds an intruder in his barn that turns out to be Francis, who has come home to see his dying father and to make peace with Philip. Philip struggles between his obligation to turn Francis over to Cromwell’s men or let him go free for friendship’s sake, but in the end sets him free.
I liked this story because it gives a glimpse into what life was like in England right after the Battle of Worcester. It also shows the personal conflict of a man torn between his duty to his country and his loyalty to his friend.
Reviewed By: Pat Nelson
