I am pleased to share another 5-star review from Readers’ Favorite — this time from reviewer Saifunnissa Hassam.
Here is the full review:
~ Reviewed by Saifunnissa Hassam for Readers’ Favorite
Christopher Hepworth’s Cavalier is an action-packed, riveting, and immersive historical and contemporary conspiracy thriller. The story is set across three timelines: the 17th, the 20th, and the 21st centuries. In 1986, Samuel Faulkner is a young student in Yorkshire at Red House, an elite boarding school for boys. His curiosity leads him to discover hidden tunnels and a set of rooms in the attic of Red House. To his amazement, he finds items dating back to the English Civil War (1641 -1651). Sam is the winning captain of the school’s rugby team and goes on to a spectacular career as the legendary captain of England’s rugby team. In 2024, Sam meets Rebecca Vavasour again. Rebecca was at Red House in 1986, in a work experience program for her Cambridge University degree. She is a direct descendant of the family who owned the Red House estate for many centuries. She discovers that Red House is now the center of an ultra-conservative hardline political conspiracy, a movement steeped in the puritanical values of Oliver Cromwell (1649-1658). The danger, intensity, drama, action, and pace ratchet up as Rebecca and Sam come together to expose the conspiracy and the reality of a violent civil war.
I thoroughly enjoyed Christopher Hepworth’s Cavalier for its complex characters and multifaceted storyline of a political conspiracy to replace the British monarchy and democracy with a hardline conservative government. The entire story sprang to life as the details emerged of the three timelines. I liked how the story moved forward, with brief but telling details in some aspects of the narrative, and then immersive and rich details for key characters, and always with Red House in that narrative. Red House itself became a character for me. The author connected the three timelines, showing the strong and vital part Red House played in the lives of key characters. Samuel Faulkner sprang to life, beginning with the details of his student days in Red House in the 1980s, his emerging leadership qualities, his growing abilities in rugby, his courage, and his compassion for the younger kids. The interweaving of the 17th-century history of Red House into Sam’s life in his school days was very imaginative. The story gained great depth when he met Rebecca Vavasour in the 1980s and then again in 2024, and how his life took a significant turn in the changing political times in England. I liked how the plot brings Rebecca into Sam’s life, her impact on his character, and her important role in changing the direction of his life. I was riveted as England found itself in ever-mounting political chaos and turbulence. Sam is drawn inexorably into the political mayhem. I loved the cover, which vividly captures Red House and key characters in the story. Cavalier is an absorbing character-driven story interwoven with intricate British history.
If you have not yet discovered Cavalier, explore this unforgettable journey through Britain’s past and present today:
