Skulduggery, Paul Rushworth-Brown

The 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.