A Pardon Too Few

The country is almost bankrupt, the wars in France are crippling, corruption walks with nobility, the poor are starving and their king is insane. England in 1450 is ripe for revolution…A Pardon Too Few follows Jack Cade, a penniless adventurer from Ireland. Nourished by his mother's dreams, he believes a fortune is his for the taking. Following his arrival in England, opportunities arise thrusting him into a life of protest and sacrifice. Leading a rising of peasants, shopkeepers and landowners, he marches them to Blackheath to present the Government with a Charter of Complaints. At first things go well and confident of success, Jack sweeps into the city of London with an uprising of thousands. When news of the Kentish rebellion reaches the government, they and the populace are in thrown into disarray. The hapless Henry VI is unfit to reign. His wife, Margaret of Anjou is deeply unpopular. Surrounded by those they should be able to trust, the royal couple must rule amidst greed, plots and black deeds at Court. Margaret also faces a dilemma. Who should she choose to father the heir the House of Lancaster so desperately needs? Before long the citizens turn against the uprising and when the king's forces discover their spirit again, Jack finds himself with a price on his head. Along the way, he has become caught up in a web of secrets. But is the one he holds the greatest of them all? From the backdrop of the Connaught Mountains in southern Ireland, through the rancid streets of Southwark and finally Jack's ignoble death in a forest in Kent, this is a story of struggles and sacrifice in the harsh reality of life in the fifteenth century.