An Army of Judiths (Kenau Hassalaar of Haarlem) - Tapa dura

Netherlands, 1572

Across the Low Countries, towns and cities have barricaded their gates against King Phillip II of Spain’s invading army led by the bloodthirsty Duke of Alva and his tyrannical son, Toledo. With Amsterdam subjugated, and the ongoing merciless conquest of smaller towns, Spain’s mighty foothold in the Netherlands is gaining strength.

Discharged as governor of the Netherlands by Spain, Prince William of Orange has amassed a fleet of ‘Seabeggars’, his unofficial navy of furious and vengeful noblemen, bent on defending their faith, land and fortunes. But they are losing. Holland is in the grip of Spain, and the grip is tightening.

The city of Haarlem, just ten miles west of Amsterdam, is in King Phillip’s way. Holland cannot be conquered without Haarlem and the Spanish army marches to take the city. As it nears Haarlem, the city is thrown into disorganized panic.

Mother, sister, widow and shipbuilder, Kenau Hasselaar is the sister-in-law of William of Orange’s physician. She has much to lose should Haarlem fall to Spain.

With a passion to rival King Phillip’s own, Kenau forms a troop of three hundred women, her Army of Judiths. Furious and driven, she trains her troops to match the Spanish invaders blow for bloody blow. With these women, Kenau launches a defense of the city in a desperate bid to protect her family, her way of life, and her beloved home.

C.J. Underwood (Jane Monk) grew up in a Yorkshire seaside town, where the beach was her playground, and her wanderings along it were populated with characters from the stories in her head. Her strict girls' school was a challenge, but C.J. quickly learned ways to survive by immersing herself in historical fiction. She became an apprentice chef for the Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim Palace, where she learned to pay attention to detail, and was trained by one of England’s finest chefs. After this, she fulfilled one of her childhood dreams and went to sea, and was shocked to discover herself to be the first woman in the British Merchant Navy to work in the North Sea. C.J. lives on a smallholding with her partner, and is presently revising her next historical novel. Based on a sea theme, the story is still set in her favorite era, the sixteenth century, but much closer to home.