Captives and Kings (The Thistle and the Cross #2)

Craig & Janet Parshall
Harvest House Publishers (2007)
ISBN 0736913254
Reviewed by Joanne Benham for Reader Views (4/07)

“Captives and Kings” continues the Mackenzie family saga that started in “Crown of Fire.”  The year is 1605 and there’s a plot afoot to kill King James of England.  Ransom’s sons, Andrew and Phillip, are now middle-aged with grown children and are living and working in London, Andrew as a middle-level associate to King James’ religious council and Phillip working as a mapmaker with his son, Peter, now 20, working as an apprentice.  As Peter’s skills grew, Phillip began to leave more and more of the work in his hands while he went off on mysterious errands, not telling Peter where he went but sometimes returning home with large sums of money. 

The two brothers are estranged, not having spoken in several years, when Andrew hears rumors of a plot to assassinate King James I and the members of both houses of the Parliament by blowing up Westminster Palace at the opening session of the 1605 Parliament.  As more details trickle in, inferences that a man named Mackenzie might be involved reach Andrew.  When Andrew hears that gunpowder is to be used, he knows that Phillip, whether knowingly or not, could be involved, for Phillip was a master with explosives.  When Andrew confronts Phillip, Phillip acknowledges that he had spoken to Guy Fawkes about where to find the best fuses in London, but swears he was told they were needed to remove stumps from Fawkes’ estate.

As more of the conspirators are brought in for questioning, Andrew convinces Phillip to leave England and set sail for the New World under a different name.  To Peter’s anguish, he finds that he must leave too or face death for treason.  Now he has to leave his country and his new love, Rose Heatherton, forever.  So Phillip and Peter set sail for the New World, Phillip with excitement, Peter with deep regret.

The book gives you a behind-the-scenes look at historical events, such as the Gunpowder Plot and the writing of the King James Bible.  I never really gave it much thought, but as I read, I could imagine the men sitting day after day, arguing some fine point of theology as they rewrote the Bible.  And I was reminded of the fact that they wrote it all by hand and with no source of light except the sun and fire. 

Another thing that impressed me about “Captives and Kings” is that it doesn’t sugarcoat life in those times.  It was hard.  People lost everything and were thrown out on the street.  Parents lost far too many of their children to disease and accidents.  The authors kill off leading characters because that happens in life.  I enjoyed the book so much that I bought the first book in the series as soon as I finished this one.  And as far as my history can remember, the events talked about happened just as they describe.

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