'Most history books deal with the final campaign of the Civil War in a single paragraph, and the Battle of Torrington they hardly mention at all. In this story I have tried to show what that final campaign in the west was like, and to re-fight the battles fought over my own countryside.'

Rosemary Sutcliff's new book, thus described in her own foreword, is not only the most exciting she has yet written; it is at the same time the most penetrating. The clash of personal loyalties, the severing of friendships, and all the bitter strains of civil war are finely shown in this story of Simon Carey, the farmer's son who enlists with the Parliamentary forces, and Amias Hannaford, his boyhood friend, who fights for the Royalist cause.

This is a book for older children, who will find it compelling reading; for all who know the west country, who will find it an accurate and illuminating account of the savage skirmishes and sieges that marked the campaigning there; and for all who look for character, imagination and a high standard of writing in books for young people.

From the dust jacket

It has never seemed of much importance during their boyhood that Simon Carey was for Parliament and his friend Amias Hannaford a Royalist. But when the Civil War Between the two parties broke out, and two years later they were old enough to take part in it, the[y] found themselves fighting on different sides. 

This story tells of the last stages of the Civil War waged in the west country; and the account of the part played by Simon in the fighting makes exciting reading. Several times in the course of it he encounters Amias: and these meetings leave him torn by conflicting loyalties. Finally the day comes when he is forced to put the strength of his friendship to the test, weighing it against his loyalty to the Parliamentarian cause. 

Rosemary Sutcliff has written a compelling and unbiased story of the troubled times of the Civil War, describing vividly and accurately the final campaign in the west and sharing in the life and thoughts and feelings of some of the people who became involved in it. 

'Here is an author who writes with great distinction...Simon is a book that I recommend with all my heart.' Noel Streatfeild, in choosing Simon as the YOUNG ELIZABETHAN Book of the Month

From the dust jacket of the 1959 edition