Set in seventeenth-century England under Cromwell, Sally Watson's Lark combines historical intrigue with romantic adventure in the high-spirited tale of a young girl who escapes from her uncle's stolid Puritan family.

The daughter of Royalists exiled to France, thirteen-year-old Lark finds the prospect of marrying her cousin Will-of-God so distasteful that she decides to flee to the home of her sister in Scotland. On the way, she meets young James Trelawney, a Royalist spy whose annoyance with her slowly turns into concern and companionship as the two experience many harrowing and occasionally humorous adventures. An unexpected encounter with Will-of-God, and a battle in which James is seriously wounded, finally lead the pair to refuge with a band of colorful Gypsies.

How Lark's grandparents (whom readers of Miss Watson's Mistress Malapert will immediately recognize) rescue the two, along with the young King Charles, is revealed in the suspenseful climax to this adventure, which gives an authentic picture of a fascinating historical period. 

From the dust jacket