SkulduggeryThe bleak Pennine moors of Yorkshire is a beautiful, harsh place close to the sky, rugged and rough, no boundaries ’cept the horizon, which, in some places, went on forever. Green pastures and wayward hills are in the colors of ochre, brown, and pink in the spring. Green squares divided the land on one side of the lane and on the other. Sheep with thick wool and dark snout dotted the hills and dales. One-room cruck house cottages are scattered, smoke billowing out of some and not others. Dry stonewalls are dividing and falling, a patchwork of green, green, and more green. Long grasses whispered while swaying in the chilled wind, waiting for the summer months. The story, set on the moors of West Yorkshire, follows wee Thomas and his family shortly after losing his father to consumption. Times were tough in 1590, and there were shenanigans and skulduggery committed by locals and outsiders alike. Queen Bess has died, and King James sits on the throne of England and Scotland. Thomas Rushworth is now the man of the house, being the older of the two boys. He is set to marry Agnes in an arranged marriage, but a love story develops between them. This rollicking adventure paints a descriptive picture of the characters and the landscape they fill. You are kept in suspense till the final pages where one hopes good will triumph over evil. |
Contents
Truth of a | |
Sons of Heart | |
Darkest Danger | |
Way of a Woman | |
The Cryings Edge | |
Time of Servants | |
The Obsession of the Stars | |
The Souls of Silver | |
The Angel | |
Harvest of Life | |
First Woman | |
The Absent Predator | |
In the Shadow | |
Common terms and phrases
Ayup banns of marriage barkeep beck Black Death bowl breath brother bucket chest church codpiece coin companion coney-catchers continued cottage coughed couldn’t dark deputy didn’t door dry-stone wall ducking stool English Mastiff eyes face father feel fire footpads front grabbed hair Hall Green hand Haworth head hear heard hill husband jacks John Hargreaves John walked John’s Kings Arms knew knife leant leather jacks lifted linen lord’s manor court Margery Moorehouse Lane mother mouth night nowt opened Oxenhope picked pillory placed pulled rat baiting realised reeve remembered shillings shoulder side smiled started steward stone stood stool straw Sun Street sword tankard thee there’s theur Thomas and Agnes Thomas and William Thomas looked Thomas Rushworth thought took toothless trying turned vicar village wager walked wall watched wench What’s whispered wife wooden yelled