Spirals of Fate

Norfolk, 1549. Two years after Henry VIII’s death, the government of the young Edward VI struggles with war, religious change, inflation and hostility towards landowners who enclose common ground. When Robert Kett becomes involved in a local dispute at Wymondham, resistance spreads beyond the destruction of fences and gathers thousands of labourers, artisans and small farmers. Kett emerges as the reluctant leader of a movement demanding fair rents, access to common resources and justice against abuses by the gentry.

The rebels establish a camp on Mousehold Heath and take control of Norwich, attempting to govern through petitions, courts and organised supply rather than indiscriminate violence. Their discipline is tested by internal division, negotiation and the government’s decision to answer protest with military force. Moving among historical leaders and fictional participants, the novel follows the rebellion from local grievance to open war and examines why a movement capable of controlling England’s second city could not survive the power assembled against it.