Place Mill

Set in Christchurch and the countryside of Hampshire during the English Civil War, this historical novel is aimed at young readers. When the fighting is at its fiercest, Nicholas Lambert's father is shot for being a traitor to the King. Nicholas runs away from home to fight for the Royalists and leaves his younger sister, Katharine, behind.

Six years pass, and the Royalist cause collapses at the Battle of Worcester. Nicholas is now a fugitive whose life is at risk. He returns with two companions to the house where he grew up, hoping for shelter, but he finds it changed, and he suspects his sister has changed too.

Cromwell's soldiers search the house for the young Charles II, who is in hiding. Nicholas and his two friends escape by disguising themselves as servants and head for the Hampshire coast.