Books by Diane Calton Smith

'Just find it.'These are the words which Rufus of Tilneye cannot get out of his head. Words which become ever more significant as he sets out from Wisbech Castle on a quest he wants no part in.The year is 1216 and Rufus is travelling in the company of Milo Fulk, the seneschal for the Isle of Ely. Their orders are simple; to find an item of royal property lost in the Wash when King John's baggage train made its catastrophic crossing. But they are not alone in their search. There are others prepared to go to any lengths to get what they want. To them, betrayal, pain, even murder, are just unavoidable consequences.Eight hundred years into the future, the legend of King John's lost treasure still holds fascination for many. Museum curator Monica and members of the Wisbech Heritage Society are intent on delving into the past to find out what really happened.As Milo and Rufus' search becomes ever more desperate, taking them on a journey through the marshy wilderness of the medieval Fens, Monica and the local society in modern times strive to discover the ancient truth. It may be closer than they think.

It must truly have been a night to remember, when the ancient tower of St Peter’s came crashing down.But that was just the beginning of all that would befall the people of Wisbech and the Fens in the Tudor and Stuart eras. They were about to enter a time of such upheaval that the way they behaved, prayed, even the way in which they were expected to think, would be turned upside down.‘Plague, Flood and Gewgaws’ follows the progress of Wisbech and the Fens through two hundred turbulent years, witnessing the perils of religious Reform, flood, plague, fire and civil war.And it is the ordinary people who take centre stage here. Not the kings, bishops or burgesses, but the folk who laboured, fought and rebelled; the cottagers, ploughmen, dykers ... and the Fen Tigers themselves.