Scars from the Past

The Craft of Kings – Book 1

by Derek Birks.

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An unwelcome legacy. An impossible love. A relentless enemy.

By 1481, England has been free from civil war for ten years.
The Elder family have found a fragile peace after their part in the bloody struggle for the throne, yet scars from the past remain with them all.

Given time, they might heal, but when did the Elders ever have enough time? Close to home, in Ludlow, trouble is stirring.

Born out of the carnage of the Wars of the Roses, young John Elder is now the heir to his father’s legacy, but he finds it a poisonous one. Driven from the woman he loves, John abandons his legacy and flees the country to become a mercenary in Flanders.

In his absence, the other members of the Elder family must face a ruthless outlaw family. When the young heir to the throne, Edward, Prince of Wales, is caught up in their bitter struggle, his very life hangs in the balance.

To save a prince, all other lives must be put at risk, but only if the Elders can leave the scars of the past behind them, is there any hope of survival.

A Word from the Author

Scars From The Past is the first in a new Wars of the Roses series featuring the adventures of the Elder family. This new series begins in 1481, ten years after the end of The Last Shroud.

There are a few familiar characters but the central characters, for the most part, are the next generation of Elders. As always, their retainers play key roles and no more so than on this occasion where the core of the book revolves around a tangled love story between John Elder, son of Ned Elder, and Lizzie Holton, the daughter of Ned’s steward.

The style and substance of the book continues that of the previous series, Rebels and Brothers. There is plenty of action for readers who like it, but also there is the underlying theme – as the title suggests – of a family that has been eviscerated by its misfortunes during the wars and is still trying to find its way.

The action is centred in Ludlow where the heir to the throne, Prince Edward, has his household. When this boy of only 12 years of age becomes embroiled in the troubles of the Elder family, it elevates their local struggle against a vicious criminal gang into an affair of state. Very soon the town of Ludlow, sodden from the appallingly wet autumn and winter of 1482, becomes a battlefield.

(Derek Birks, March 2017)