There Blew a Great Wind - Tapa blanda

There Blew A Great Wind is a historical novel set in the 17th century, at the time of the death of Oliver Cromwell and the restoration of King Charles II. Captain Abimelech Hollinshaw is the commander of the parliamentary garrison on Columbsey, an island off the north-east coast of England. His wife Meg and his four daughters Peace, Prudence, Piety and Prayer have grown accustomed to the life of an army family. Now there is a little son, Nat, as well. Their servant Abby is the daughter of the former parson of the island, deposed for his royalist sympathies. One night a great storm brings some shipwrecked men to the island, who are to have a dramatic effect on the hearts and lives of these young women. The novel contains many fascinating details of 17th century life, especially for women involved in the daily round of housekeeping. It is suitable for older children as well as adults.

Patricia F. Payne spent the first nine years of her life in ‘a slightly substandard version of Downton Abbey’ and was educated at Esdaile school for clergymen’s daughters in Edinburgh, feeling quite at home when it was evacuated to a castle during World War II. While working as a guide in Shakespeare’s birthplace she met and married the curator of the Stratford-on-Avon theatre museum. She brought up two sons in a Warwickshire farmhouse where she also raised horses, puppies and hens. They ran three racehorses, one of which very nearly won the Grand National. Her husband trained her as his research assistant as they tracked down and sold historical documents, rescuing many from the then fashionable fate of being made into lampshades. Patricia started writing fiction in middle-age after finally discovering that her problems with books were due to dyslexia and not to stupidity as she had been told at school. Successful entries in several writing competitions encouraged her to keep going and she has now written many historical and romantic stories in both short and long forms. Patricia is once again living in rural Berwickshire, still writing as much as she can.