Any book written by Judy Leigh and her alter ego Elena Collins are well worth reading. She has such a beautiful way of describing characters, that they are completely believable and stir your emotions. She is also excellent in creating strong, female characters and here in The Wicked Lady. We have the wonderful Katherine (Kate) Ferrers, who I loved immediately.
This is a dual timeline novel and in the present day, our hero is twenty-nine year old Charlie Wolfe. We begin the story in London with his life swiftly going downhill. His girlfriend has left him and his temporary teaching job has finished. Luckily he still has his adorable dog – Alan the black labrador.
He ends up moving near to St Albans to help his Uncle Bill renovate an old cottage – 1 Constable’s Cottages, Ferrers Lane in Wheathampstead. Bill is sixty and a builder, his wife Marcia is forty-five and from Honduras. Charlie meets the neighbours, one of whom is Edie Berry, who has a Samoyed dog called Bianca.
He feels happy about his decision to start life anew and live in the cottage while they do it up, yet there seems to be a ghostly rider he encounters… Could it really be something to do with the legend of the Wicked Lady?
Meanwhile, in 1648, Katherine Ferrers is an orphan, who lives with her Aunt Alice in Huntingdonshire. She is coming up to fourteen years old and her stepfather wants her to marry his sixteen-year-old nephew Thomas Fanshawe, who Katherine doesn’t like and knows he is only after her money. Her mother always told her to speak up for herself and to be strong, which she follows, though it means adults find her wilful and impetuous.
She gets married to the completely unlikeable Thomas and they move to Hertfordshire, where she lives in her old family home The Cell. By 1659, she is twenty-five and has been married eleven years. Her husband is away a lot, which suits them both, as it is a loveless marriage. Kate spends time with the servants Beatrice and John and her horse Shadow. She meets local farmer Raife Chetwyn and seeing the poverty all around her, she vows to help in any way she can…
Elena Collins’s novels are always rich in beautiful description and full of fascinating characters, intermingled with a story that holds your interest throughout. The historical elements are wonderfully researched and the level of detail is perfect so as the reader, you can easily immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and politics of the time period. I always feel I learn something from her books and that’s always a bonus.
BLURB
The Wicked Lady
‘Incredibly atmospheric, haunting and poignant.’ Nicola Cornick
1648 – Hertfordshire
Thirteen-year-old Katherine Ferrers is in despair at being betrothed to arch-Royalist Thomas Fanshawe whose family are hellbent on plundering her family’s fortune to champion the exiled Charles. As her unhappy marriage stretches before her, her only comfort is her beloved childhood home The Cell. But as the years pass and Kate grows restless, a new passion, a new love and a dangerous calling threaten to upend everything she’s ever known.
Present Day – Hertfordshire
Charlie Wolfe jumps at the chance to help his uncle renovate a tumbledown cottage overlooking Nomansland Common. Number One Constable’s Cottages was once the home of the man charged with ridding the common of the highwaymen who terrorised travellers. But it’s the story of The Wicked Lady, the notorious female highway robber, that captures Charlie’s imagination, and some long winters’ nights he’s sure he can the hoofbeats of her horse echoing across time.
What drove this mystery woman to risk everything for a life of crime, and why is she still restless, wandering the common in grief? It seems only Charlie can finally uncover the secret Katherine Ferrers has kept for hundreds of years; a secret of a terrible betrayal and a tragic love that was never meant to end this way…
USA Today bestselling author Judy Leigh writing as Elena Collins, brings you this spellbinding and heartbreaking timeslip novel, uncovering the intriguing story of another brave woman that history forgot. Perfect for fans of Barbara Erskine, Nicola Cornick, Diana Gabaldon and Louise Douglas.
Purchase Link – https://mybook.to/thewickedladysocial
Author Bio –
Elena Collins is the pseudonym for Judy Leigh. Judy Leigh is the bestselling author of Five French Hens , A Grand Old Time and The Age of Misadventure and the doyenne of the ‘it’s never too late’ genre of women’s fiction. She has lived all over the UK from Liverpool to Cornwall, but currently resides in Somerset.
Social Media Links –
Facebook: @judyleighuk
Twitter: @JudyLeighWriter
Instagram: @judyrleigh
Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/ElenaCollinsnewsletter
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/elena-collins
