J. Anderson Coats

In thirteenth-century Wales, ten years into English rule, two girls at cross purposes are caught up in ethnic strife, institutionalized corruption and impending rebellion.

1293.  North Wales.  Ten years into English rule.

Cecily would give anything to leave Caernarvon and go home.  Gwenhwyfar would give anything to see all the English leave.

Neither one is going to get her wish.

Behind the city walls, English burgesses govern with impunity.  Outside the walls, the Welsh are confined by custom and bear the burden of taxation, and the burgesses plan to keep it that way.

Cecily can’t be bothered with boring things like the steep new tax or the military draft that requires Welshmen to serve in the king’s army overseas.  She has her hands full trying to fit in with the town’s privileged elite, and they don’t want company.

Gwenhwyfar can’t avoid these things.  She counts herself lucky to get through one more day, and service in Cecily’s house is just salt in the wound.

But the Welsh are not as conquered as they seem, and the suffering in the countryside is rapidly turning to discontent.  The murmurs of revolt may be Gwenhwyfar’s only hope for survival – and the last thing Cecily ever hears.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

J. Anderson Coats has dug for crystals, held Lewis and Clark’s original hand-written journal and been a mile underground.  She writes historical fiction set in the middle ages that routinely includes too much violence, name-calling and petty vandalism perpetrated by badly-behaved young people. Her work is represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency.  Without the Walls, J’s debut novel, is forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in spring 2012.  J lives within walking distance of the Puget Sound with her husband, teenage son and a cat with thumbs.

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