Ronan Bennett's fourth, and best, novel to date is set in puritan England - that is England before the restoration. It is a bleak period in this country's history.
John Brigge is a country coroner who becomes drawn into in a case which has been brought against a vagabond Irish woman accused of murdering her own baby. The more he discovers, the less inclined he is to support the prosecution, and the more he suspects that the truth is being hidden by men in power.
Brigge only wants to be at home with his wife and newborn child, but is kept in town by the council formed so optimistically to replace the old tyranny; now repeating the cruelties of that corrupt regime. Feeling compromised by his own catholicism, with a grinding inevitability, Brigge begins to find himself increasingly the target of the council's wrath.
Bennett creates the atmosphere of repression in public life and the compassion of life at home with the skilful use of an older English language - unselfconsciously and with a deft touch.
And throughout the novel Bennett reminds us of the times we live in now: the pervading fear ; the intolerance; the - if you're not with us, you're against us - mentality Thus Brigge hears from his servant "We live in bitter times and the world is divided in two: those who live inside the godly nation, and those outside. Inside is righteousness and strength. Outside is barbarism and terror." Sound familiar?
