The Lightning Tree

In a previous novel by this author, A Surprising Legacy, the principal characters in this story, Amos and Sarah Carlisle, settle to a quiet country life after their nomadic existence in a gipsy caravan. Good fortune befell them when Sarah, and daughter Ruth, inherited the estate of her childhood sweetheart (Ruth's father) when he was killed in action whilst serving in King George's army in the colonies of the New World. Suddenly their tranquil life, even their marriage, is threatened by the appearance of a character claiming to be Sarah's childhood sweetheart, Joseph Craven who was believed dead. However, his facial disfigurement is so severe that recognition is impossible. His memory is supposedly affected by the injuries he has suffered, but his story to explain the confusion about his 'death' is supported by a man of some apparent substance, who claims that he served alongside Joseph as an officer in that army. The family are torn apart in considering whether the inheritance or at least some portion should be repaid to this reincarnation. His existence must be kept secret because should he be discovered he could face the death penalty for desertion. Amos is convinced that this 'Joseph' and his sponsors are fraudsters but Sarah is almost convinced of the opposite, whilst Ruth never having known her real father desperately longs for 'Joseph' to be genuine. The dilemma is one of legality and Christian morality. The story briefly touches upon such historical world events as The Boston Tea Party and the events that would lead to the American War of Independence, The East India Company's base at Machilipatnam on the Coramandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal where hundreds of British soldiers died in the terrible cholera outbreak, the degrading and frightening Lintin Island which was the smuggler's lair, and the Opium War with China. In a previous novel A Surprising Legacy Amos Carlisle becomes a victim of a land grab by the aristocracy at the time of the Enclosures Act. Taking to the road in a horse drawn caravan, he befriends a small child, Ruth, whose mother has been jailed for vagrancy. When her mother, Sarah, is eventually released from prison he offers them a home. Fortune befalls them when Ruth and Sarah inherit a legacy from Sarah's former lover and Ruth's father, Joseph Craven, who dies as a soldier in the New World. In The Lightning Tree, set in the late 1700s, Sarah and Amos marry and settle in a country cott