BERNARD Cornwell is one of the best military historical fiction novelists around, as anyone who has read his Sharpe series knows.

With Mrs Cornwell, alias Susannah Kells, Cornwell has now dipped into a new style of writing, combining the Mills and Boon bodice-ripper genre with the period thriller.

This is the second of a series about the Lazender family who are mixed up in dark plots and secret societies at the time of the French Revolution.

The beautiful Lady Campion Lazender is attracted to a mysterious, dark and handsome stranger who is a gypsy horse-master. Meanwhile her brother Toby is missing in Revolutionary France. Who can Campion trust?

This is a rollicking read, easy on the neurons and perfect for that long plane ride.

– David Sibley