Havoc, In Its Third Year: A Novel Book

A brilliant, Booker Prize-nominated historical thriller from the author of Zugzwang and The Catastrophist.

In turbulent seventeenth-century England, John Brigge is a governor. Having stayed away from intrigues to work on his farm and be with his wife, he is now expecting his first child. He is also—secretly—a Catholic.

When he is called to settle the murder of a new-born child, Brigge finds himself drawn into matters he wants to avoid. Katherine Shay, an Irishwoman, is accused of killing her baby. Brigge wants to wait for more evidence. The ascendant Puritan faction, however, demands her immediate hanging. Brigge suspects their haste has little to do with their talk of justice. What are they hiding? And does he really want to know?

In the background, a rebellion is brewing. Only Brigge—and his investigation—can change the tide. Torn between home and the world, haunted by the mystery of Katharine Shay, he must finally make a stand.

Publishers Weekly

Bennett (The Catastrophist) pens an evocative, somber account of a man facing a crisis of spirit and conscience in early 17th-century England, when "men of property were gripped by fears" and decried the poor, the immigrant and the unemployed as spreaders of crime and sin. Upstanding town coroner and governor John Brigge, a man of "the old faith" who "lived with signs and saints," is called to investigate the death of a baby allegedly murdered by the child's own mother, Katherine Shay, a proud Irish Catholic woman. She denies not only the crime but the right of her Puritan inquisitors to try her. Brigge, struck by the young woman's refusal to quietly accept her fate, begins to believe that she may indeed be innocent. But because the townspeople have already decided she is guilty and have sniffed about Bennett the secret airs of a papist he understands that his own fate will hinge on whether or not he goes along with those who claim to work for the benefit of God, even as they serve their own selfish ends. Marvelously told, with memorable characters, powerful dialogue and description, and subtly drawn parallels to contemporary issues, this is one of the more rewarding historical novels to come along in some time. Agent, David Godwin. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.