Rhona Martin

A strange, haunting story of two ill-starred lovers, set against the backdrop of the religious upheaval of Henry VIII's time. Hazel, a peasant girl marked by the witches' brand and a dangerous beauty, loves Black John, an outlaw and aristocrat, whom she rescues from the gallows. Together they struggle to survive a world in which brutal death awaits at every corner, and stumble along a fateful collision towards a harrowing climax. Winner of the First Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize founded in memory of Georgette Heyer by Bodley Head and Corgi Books. Rhona Martin's remarkable first novel won the award in 1977, its first year, in competition with 150 entries.