By Francis Quinn (S&S £14.99, 384 pp)
‘You’re small on the outside. But, inside, you’re as big as everyone else. You show people that and you won’t go far wrong in life.’
It’s a maternal mantra which 18in high Nat Davy takes to heart as he attempts to survive in the tumultuous court of Charles I, where a dithering King and a homesick Queen (Henrietta Maria of France) are unable to prevent civil war.
As religious factions plunge the country into routs and regicide, Nat’s life plots an equally turbulent course. Sold by his father to the manipulative Duke of Buckingham, baked into a decorative pie as a gift to Henrietta Maria, the brave young man is bullied, falls in love and gallantly faces up to his own short-comings while becoming the most loyal of friends to the despondent, deposed Queen. Full of vim and vigour, this is winningly warm-hearted.