Three timelines. One ancestral home. A conspiracy that refuses to die.
Red House has stood at the heart of British power for centuries - from royalist fortress to elite boarding school to the modern-day headquarters of a dangerous puritanical movement.
In 1986, student Sam Faulkner discovers a hidden attic room containing the remains of an infant and a secret pointing to a lost royal lineage - buried during the English Civil War. The truth remains hidden until decades later, when it could change everything.
In 2024, Nigel Pride - an ex-pupil shaped by Red House’s darkest traditions - leads a political movement set on plunging Britain into chaos. Sam, now a retired England rugby captain, reunites with Rebecca Vavasour, a descendant of Red House’s founders, to expose the truth and stop a rising threat.
Spanning centuries and tied together by one haunted estate, Cavalier is a gripping historical thriller of power, betrayal, and national survival. Perfect for fans of Ken Follett, Robert Harris, Hilary Mantel, and C.J. Sansom.
Unlock the secrets of Red House. The past is waiting.
International Bestselling and Multi-Award-Winning Author of Sam Jardine Crime Conspiracy Thrillers Series. Author Christopher Hepworth has been a professional negotiator for over thirty years, with some of the largest and best-known companies in the world. He has won numerous prestigious awards in his chosen profession of procurement and developed many of the strategies and techniques that are now widely used across the industry. He has spent half a lifetime working for an array of colourful captains of industry, some inspirational; others downright terrifying. He often wonders how these desk warriors would cope if they were confronted with real-life, world threatening global emergencies rather than plotting their own narrow-minded corporate agendas. With the magic of fiction, Christopher Hepworth has created a wonderful set of characters he hopes will put the fear of God into his readers, adding to the list of threats already facing humanity.
Born in the UK in 1961 and raised in Zambia in central Africa like his hero, Wilbur Smith, Christopher Hepworth now lives in Sydney, Australia with his wife, Anne and four children. Much of the spare time he finds for writing comes while watching his children play representative cricket. It's amazing how many sentences can be written in between the fall of wickets.
The exotic characters in his books reflect his fascination with the charismatic and proud, but often maligned warrior nations around the world, whose stories are screaming to be told. In his books, Christopher Hepworth's desk-bound corporate warriors come face to face with those proud peoples, who have suffered the misfortunes of fate and history but their dignity and aspirations remain intact.
Christopher Hepworth has created a new brand of hero for the twenty-first century. Like James Bond, or the lawyers of John Grisham's thrillers, Sam Jardine must use his occupational skills to thwart the ambitions of ruthless villains who seek to subordinate the world with their depraved sense of moral values. Armed only with a sense of justice, respect for ancient warrior cultures and an extraordinary talent for negotiation, can he win the day or will he be engulfed in the cesspit of corporate politics? For the sake of world peace, let's hope Sam Jardine is up to the task.
Just finished reading Cavalier and enjoyed it immensely. You captured the essence of the time, the characters and of course Red House. Very clever, concise and captivating. Some similarities in character and style of the Sam Jardine initial work , which was endearing and encouraged us moving through the adventure & intrigue. Looking forward to your next work ! Well done L& L
This is a beautiful story that is very well written. The author perfectly blends past and present with history that the reader will enjoy. This book has mystery and drama and romance that will capture the readers’s imagination and you will not want to stop reading. I loved this story. There is also a great cast of characters and a lot that the reader will find amazing. It is also a story that will bring out your emotions. This book is so well written you will feel like you are going through time with the characters. I highly recommend this author and this book. Get it and read it, you will not go wrong.
A royal secret. A buried murder. A modern-day coup in motion. Spanning three timelines—1658, 1986, and 2024—Cavalier is a gripping historical thriller where loyalty collides with betrayal, and the fate of a nation hangs in the balance.
Perfect for readers of historical fiction, political thrillers, and conspiracy-driven suspense—especially fans of Ken Follett, Hilary Mantel, and Robert Harris.
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Add it to your TBR shelf now and be the first to uncover the secrets of Red House.
Hepworth returns with a thriller spanning centuries
After a three year absence since the release of 2022’s Tusker author Christopher Hepworth is back with Cavalier a historical and political thriller centuries in the making. Told via three distinct and interwoven timelines, Cavalier begins in the 1600’s with the introduction of the Slingsby family and their stately ancestral home known as “Red House”, the second timeline in the 1980s details the Red House’s history as a prestigious boarding school and the final present-day timeline catches back up with several characters from the second timeline as the “Old Cavaliers” are now mostly prominent figures in English politics. Throughout the entire narrative, tense rivalries and secrets are a common thread and Hepworth does an excellent job in tying what on the surface appears to be three unrelated timelines together into a stunning historical thriller.
But Cavalier is not only a historical thriller, it is also a tribute to the Red House – a Yorkshire estate that has been in existence since the early 11th century. As the backdrop for most of the action in each of the three timelines, Hepworth spends as much time on the development of the characters as he does faithfully portraying the Red House as a locale that stands the test of time. From the outset, it is clear that Red House is a property to be envied, fought for and protected. But this was no ordinary house, Red House has a personality of its own and can even be considered a character in its own right. Built and utilized during a turbulent time in England’s history, it was intriguing to learn about priest holes and their usage. These hiding places sounded so fanciful that they didn’t seem to be real. To see these architectural features factor so prominently in the later timelines elevated the story in my opinion. While not usually a fan of historical fiction, Hepworth is an exception as everything I have read from him weaves historical aspects into the overall fictional timeline. This approach has always prompted me to look deeper into the claims or events and learn even more about places or events.
If you are a fan of political thrillers, historical mysteries, larger than life locales and potentially world-changing events, Christopher Hepworth’s Cavalier will have you hooked from start to finish. Here’s hoping that we will not have to wait three years for his next adventure.
A thoroughly engrossing story portraying the rigid and unyielding beliefs of the puritans. It also highlights the injustices enacted in the name of this religion. The need to exercise perceived power over others is at the core of corruption. I am relieved that despite these evils there are good and just people who stand up for what is right at great peril to themselves. I did not miss the parallels to events occurring today. I greatly enjoyed this book and could not put it down! Fantastically written!
Cavalier brought together friends and enemies in a thrilling adventure at a remote English estate(Yorkshire estate). Christopher Hepworth story uncovers greediness, selfishness and cruelty by the people entrusted with the management of estate's properties and workers, however, the later generation revenged most of the bad deeds done to them. The book is very interesting and well written contains valuable lessons about human behavior when in authority. I enjoyed it
I was happy to read this story. The characters were realistic, the conversations easy and realistic. A lot of the story is about showing the brutality of our shared pasts. How absolutely merciless men can be toward weaker people; religions, women, children, or slight men. It was terrible, but very close to actual historic accounts I have read.