Winter, 1651. The future King of England is hiding in a desolate inn on the wild coast of Devonshire, and every coin in Gamaliel Hooker's pocket is screaming temptation. Charles Stuart has lost a kingdom and gained a price on his head. Now he waits in a cold room above a tavern, listening for the boots of soldiers who will hang him as a traitor. Below, the innkeeper wrestles with a devil's bargain: turn the king in and claim a fortune, or risk everything for a fugitive with nothing to offer but a crown that no longer exists. J.C. Snaith builds unbearable suspense from simple elements: a locked door, a flickering candle, the sound of horses on the road. This is historical fiction at its most primitive and gripping, a story about what happens when the fate of nations narrows to one desperate night in one unforgiving place.
