July 1680: Richard Cameron is dead, and John Steel and Lucas Brotherstone have only just escaped capture by government forces.The net widens to arrest anyone suspected of Covenanter sympathies, and the army becomes ever more brutal in its suppression of the rebels.To have any hope of survival Lucas Brotherstone must escape to Holland, and John Steel is determined to make this happen.Desperate Times is the third historical novel in Ethyl Smith's series, following Cha...

Scotland, 1685With Monmouth and Argyll planning to overthrow James VII and II, the Covenanters see an opportunity to further their own cause, but dissent among the faithful causes factions to start appearing.As tensions heighten and rumours of an invasion spread, John Steele must continue to evade capture in an ever-tightening net.From the shepherds and the farmer's wives of the Lanarkshire hills, to the innkeepers, the apothecaries and the washerwomen of the towns,...

Scotland, 1685Part 6 in Ethyl Smith's Times series that eloquently portrays the lives of ordinary men and women in 17th century Scotland as they fought to survive in extraordinary times.Billy Kay, author of Scots: The Mither Tongue"As an Ayrshire man whose home town of Galston has a kirkyaird with a 17th century gravestone depicting a local man being killed by the troops of Bluidy Claverhoose, the stories of the Covenanters have alway...

Broken Times – Part IV in this gripping seriesScotland 1683As James Renwick returns to Scotland, accompanied by the young Jonas Hawthorne, in search of adventure, an undeterred John Steel is still living the life of a fugitive, hunted day and night by Claverhouse's men.When John and Jonas reunite, Jonas soon finds himself caught up in the intrigues of 17th century Scotland: amid accusations of witchcraft and almost constant acts of violence, it seems that no-one can...