England, 1649. The king is dead. The crown is broken. And the nation stands on the edge of chaos. In the aftermath of Charles I’s execution, the Commonwealth is born into a world fractured by war, religion, and ambition. Parliament governs in name—but real power lies with the army, and with the men who believe God has chosen them to rule. As Oliver Cromwell prepares to crush rebellion in Ireland, Lord Fairfax wrestles with conscience, and President John Bradshaw schemes to preserve his fragile authority. Across the country, ordinary lives are caught in the crossfire of politics and faith. Colonel Tom Harvey, torn between duty and mercy, must face the brutal cost of victory. Lady Mary Bankes, the famed Royalist defender of Corfe Castle, struggles to protect her family in a world that no longer honors loyalty or lineage. And in the drawing rooms and streets of London, whispers of treason, love, and survival threaten to reshape the fate of the nation. Rich in historical detail and driven by unforgettable characters, A Nation in Turmoil is a powerful novel of revolution, conscience, and the price of power—where no victory comes without blood, and no peace without sacrifice.

Two years have passed since Lady Bankes lost her home, husband and lover at Corffe Castell. Now she is faced with new challenges including her melancholic son, the loss of a daughter and the need to find husbands for two others. But the nation is still divided as the Second

In the seventeenth century, Sir John and Lady Mary Bankes, the well-respected Royalist owners of Corffe Castell in Dorsetshire, face the horrific prospect of civil war, instigated by Parliamentarian opponents of Charles I, who has angered his subjects by dissolving the government with the aim of ruling ‘by decree'. The nation is divided and friends turn against friends in the growing threat of deadly conflict. Lady Bankes, a remarkable woman of fortitude, beauty and intelligence, defends her beloved home with the (mostly) loyal backing of the household workers and villagers and with particular support from a retired cavalry captain. Will the Castell and its inhabitants survive the onslaught and to what end?