As meat loves salt by Maria McCann

I have to confess that it took me a while to get into this book and there were parts where I was skipping ahead to see where it was going, but there were also parts that were compulsive reading. The main character of the book is Jacob Cullen - I hesitate to call him hero - who is one of three brothers compelled to work as servants on a neighbouring estate, because of their father's financial mismanagement. The main perspective we have of events is that of Jacob but we do not share all of his consciousnss until later in the book. We discover that he has murdered a young man, ostensibly through fear of being revealed as a reader of seditious material along with his brothers. The novel is set during the seventeenth century English Civil War and, as Jacob flees his crime, he is recruited as a Roundhead. The details of seventeenth century life are as well presented as though the author had lived them herself: the life of a soldier  and the dehumanising aspects of war. Jacob strikes up a physical relationship with Christopher Ferris, who had co-opted Jacob into the army and becomes completely possessed by him. An emotional power struggle ensues in which Ferris demands to know all about Jacob and tries to make him his creature.
Before leaving his place of work Jacob had been betrothed to Caro, a fellow servant, and it is on their wedding day that he absconds forcing her and his brother to go with him. He attacks them both viciously, and the violence that always simmers beneath the surface with him is revealed. After the army Jacob accompanies Ferris to London, where his aunt lives, and their relationship continues. Ferris has unconventional views and persuades Jacob to establish an alternative rural farming community with him and some others, these people will later be called Diggers. They start to plough up common land but of course the idyll cannot last.
It would be true to say that this is a dark novel about very dark characters (or one in particular) but at the same time the recreation of period detail and the feel of seventeenth century life is masterful, so with the proviso that it may not be for the squeamish it is certainly recommended.