To what lengths must a persecuted minority go, in order to dislodge a Government that pays lip service to tolerance, while allowing a free reign to religious fanatics?
A terrorist fighting for his cause in a multi-faith society - yes, it's the old Gunpowder Plot story.
In The Firemaster's Mistress (Harper, £6.99) Christie Dickason has created a rollicking historical novel out of the events leading up to November 5, and their bloody aftermath.
Guy Fawkes is depicted as a willing martyr, a 'suicide bomber', chosen by the powerful minister Robert Cecil as the scapegoat to re-unite a divided nation in outrage at the attempt to blow up Parliament. Robert Catesby, a persecuted Catholic forced to sell his estate at Chastleton in Oxfordshire, features as a sincere hothead who was lucky to escape Fawkes's fate on the rack and scaffold. If you want a racy read that illuminates the history of November 5, this should light the touchpaper.
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