What I know of the Civil War is that it was between the King and Cromwell, or more exact, Parliament. Everything that went deeper than that was a new information to me. What I imagined was that extravagant people were for the King and the strict Puritans were for Cromwell. This book corrected my thinking because Blandford Candy is nothing like the strict Puritans I have expected on the side of the Parliament. His love for dresses and extravagance made him an interesting character.

He is an unlikely 'hero' but no one can say that he is not aware of his many faults. Not all, maybe, but most of them. It helps that he is telling the story of his youth, years after it happened. He still seems to remember the details vividly though.

The story is then told mainly from his perspective, but there are intersections of his brothers' letters to their sister or Royalist propaganda. The story of brothers show in this particular family what happened to many of them - they became divided because of their sympathies. It is the story of any civil war, where neighbours become enemies and families are torn apart.