''The plot of Mad Blood Stirring grows from a kernel of historical truth, but his book dazzles not so much as fact than as fiction...Instructive as well as entertaining''
NEW YORK TIMES
1815: The war is over but for the inmates at Dartmoor Prison, peace - like home - is still a long way away.
On the eve of the year 1815, the captured sailors of the Eagle arrive at Dartmoor prison; bedraggled, exhausted, sustained only by a rumour heard along the way.
Joe Hill thought he-d left the conflict behind but it is clear there is a different type of battle here. As he announces the news of the end of the war, the guards bristle and the inmates stir. The powder keg was fixed to blow and Joe has just lit the fuse.
Elizabeth Shortland, the Governor-s wife, looks out at the unsettled crowd. The peace means the end is near, that she needn-t be here for ever. But suddenly, she cannot bear the thought of leaving.
