An Army of Judiths

Haarlem, Netherlands, 1572. In her sister's courtyard Kenau Hasselaar is butchering a hog, carefully yet quickly, before the April rain lashes the city of Haarlem. Amarron looks on, irritated by her dominating older sister banging on about the Spanish and the war. As Kenau works they discuss the local boys who ran away to join William the Silent's fleet of rogues and cutthroats--the Dutch Seabeggars. Only the shrewdest of souls in the peaceful city would conceive that the Spaniards creeping north up the coast are headed their way. Kenau is one of those souls. Her sisters are not. Not even the sister married to Prince William's personal medic. And the doubtful magistrates hide in dark corners of the Cityhouse, wagging their spindly fingers at the war-mongers, reluctant to antagonise King Phillip of Spain. The king has already taken a good part of the lowlands, and plans on uniting the rest of Holland by force. Lying close to Amsterdam, Haarlem is home to the noble Hasselaar family. Kenau's shipbuilding business has thrived, despite the death of her husband some years back. She has much to lose; her children, family, means and religious freedom. She alone understands the atrocities a savage army is capable of wreaking on women. Kenau knows that when the Spaniards arrive at the gates of Haarlem she cannot rely on the men to defend her; she must rally the women; sit tight and fight back, or die a coward's death.