A Little Wizard

Mounted men arrive at Pattenhall near Ripon to claim an estate awarded to General Skippon after the battle of Naseby. A small boy sends the agent, Hoby, towards the churchyard when asked for the old squire. His defiance gives way to grief in a hayloft, where he remembers the parents and servants who once cared for him. The transfer of his father's house brings England's Civil War into the child's daily life as a loss of belonging and security.

Stanley John Weyman's historical adventure follows Jack through encounters with adults whose authority leaves him frightened and vulnerable. A locked cupboard becomes the centre of a dispute when he is found upstairs in bed. Questions about a woman carrying a lantern mingle with Luke's ominous religious pronouncements. The scenes make household suspicion and the boy's uncertain position central to the tension. Readers interested in historical fiction for younger audiences can see a national conflict reflected in a child's struggle to be heard.