Winners!

Sorry for the delay in announcing the winners for these two giveaways! I haven't been blogging or reading at all in the last week or so!

Without further ado.....

Congratulations to



Courtney from Stiletto Storytime!


who has won a copy of Before Versailles by Karleen Koen

and also to

Margaret from A Sampler of Stitches

who has won a Helen Hollick book from her Sea Witch series


An email will be on it's way to the winners shortly!

Why I Love Pirates by Helen Hollick (includes international giveaway)

In all honesty, if I was somehow transported back into the early 18th century, I don’t think I would love – even like - a real pirate. They were rather a horrible lot – thieves, murderers, uncouth – and smelly. But then I doubt any of us today would survive back then – we are too used to health and hygiene. (Where and how, I wonder, could I take my daily shower on a pirate ship? :-)

Fictional pirates are another matter entirely of course!

I think most of us who enjoy historical fiction, historical adventure and fantasy, enjoy a good book for its escapism, excitement – and maybe for the echoes of the past that linger in our DNA? The charmer of a rogue, the dashing gallant wielding pistol and cutlass – be he prince, knight, highwayman or pirate is a lure to the sense of romance. He has to be brave, strong, dependable – with only a hint of roughness. Capable in any situation, never flinching, but with that underlying vulnerability - and loyal to the one he loves or serves.

The typical hero.

I fell in love with my Jesamiah Acorne the moment I “met” him on a beach on the south coast of England. I had been walking in the rain, thinking up the plot and characters for Sea Witch, the first Voyage in my historical adventure fantasy series. I had the whole thing planned out, but not my dashing Pirate Captain.

I sat on a rock and gazed out at the cold, grey English Channel, imagining it as the Blue Caribbean. I looked up, and there, a few yards away was a man in pirate clothes – complete with cutlass and pistol, and a gold acorn as an earring. He touched his three corner hat in salute. “Hello Jesamiah Acorne” I said.

And that was it. I’ve been besotted by him ever since.

Now, whether I was seeing a vision of someone I knew in the past, or I just have a very fertile imagination, I don’t know. I did see him though.

irates – highwaymen, knights in armour, they are all characters that form the basis of an engrossing story. They are big and bold and have lots of daring-do adventures. Indeed, trouble follows Jesamiah like a ship’s wake. He is, in fact, only a true pirate in the first novel, Sea Witch, in Voyage Two, Pirate Code, he has accepted a government grant of amnesty (amnesty for the pirates was a true historical fact) but he gets embroiled in spying on the Spanish – and ends up with a beautiful woman of course. (He is rather a so-and-so for the ladies, I’m afraid). Voyage Three, Bring It Close, sees him again coerced into helping the right side of the law. He is arrested in Williamsburg, Virginia, for acts of piracy, where Governor Spotswood gives him a choice: help put an end to Edward Teach – Blackbeard himself – or hang. Spotswood’s campaign against Blackbeard is all fact – you just won’t find any reference to a certain Captain Jesamiah Acorne in the surviving records. But then, as you will read in the book, Jesamiah specifically asked for his name to be left out…. I so love binding real history with imagined make-believe!

I also love Tall Ships and anything nautical. I can’t, in reality, go off sailing the Seven Seas in a beautiful ship, but there is nothing to stop me doing so within the pages of a good book.

The trouble was, I couldn’t find the right book…. The Hornblower stories are great, but there’s not much, “romance” in them – the same with Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey books. Frenchman’s Creek was the closest to what I wanted – adventure and romance (well Ok, a bit of sex as well.) Bernard Cornwell’s Richard Sharpe was a superb character in book and TV form, with all the right ‘qualifications’ for an adventure romp – and on the movie screen there was Indiana Jones, James Bond – and Jack Sparrow to set the heart fluttering.

I took a pinch of all those characters and mixed them together with a hefty dash of historical fact and an exciting blend of supernatural fantasy, to create Jesamiah – and the books I wanted to read.


I so hope they are the adventure romp books you enjoy reading as well!

You are welcome to visit my website www.helenhollick.net
join me on Facebook - www.facebook.com/helen.hollick
or come aboard the Sea Witch page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Helen-Hollick-Author/101822116574750

Giveaway details

You can win a copy of any of the Sea Witch books by Helen Hollick (in either print or ebook) by leaving a comment on this post telling us about your favourite pirate.

- open to everyone! (Yay!)
- leave a comment and don't forget your email address or Twitter ID so that we can contact the lucky winner
- the contest closes on 7 August at Midnight GMT

Sea Witch by Helen Hollick

The Time : The Golden Age of Piracy - 1716.

The Place : The Pirate Round - from the South African Coast to the sun drenched Islands of the Caribbean.

Escaping the bullying of his elder half brother, from the age of fifteen Jesamiah Acorne has been a pirate with only two loves - his ship and his freedom. But his life is to change when he and his crewmates unsuccessfully attack a merchant ship off the coast of South Africa.

He is to meet Tiola Oldstagh an insignificant girl, or so he assumes - until she rescues him from a vicious attack, and almost certain death, by pirate hunters. And then he discovers what she reallyis; a healer, a midwife - and a white witch. Her name, an anagram of "all that is good." Tiola and Jesamiah become lovers, but the wealthy Stefan van Overstratten, a Cape Town Dutchman, also wants Tiola as his wife and Jesamiah's jealous brother, Phillipe Mereno, is determined to seek revenge for resentments of the past, a stolen ship and the insult of being cuckolded in his own home.

When the call of the sea and an opportunity to commandeer a beautiful ship - the Sea Witch - is put in Jesamiah's path he must make a choice between his life as a pirate or his love for Tiola. He wants both, but Mereno and van Overstratten want him dead.

In trouble, imprisoned in the darkness and stench that is the lowest part of his brother's ship, can Tiola with her gift of Craft, and the aid of his loyal crew, save him?

Using all her skills Tiola must conjure up a wind to rescue her lover, but first she must brave the darkness of the ocean depths and confront the supernatural being, Tethys, the Spirit of the Sea, an elemental who will stop at nothing to claim Jesamiah Acorne's soul and bones as a trophy.

The Golden Age of Piracy lasted just under 50 years in the late 17th/early 18th century. It is a time that is hard for a modern reader to imagine - the news is months old when you first hear it, if you leave your home country there is every likelihood that you will never see it again, no mobile phones, electricity etc. Luckily, the modern reader can immerse themselves in the imagined world of books to get just a small taste of what life might have been like three hundred years ago.

Captain Jesamiah Acorne started life in a semi-respectable family - his father was a plantation owner in the Carolinas - but when his parents die, he is forced to flee from the sadistic older brother who has hated Jesamiah from the first time he saw him as a young child. Luckily for Jesamiah, he has found a natural home on the bridge of a ship, a pirate ship to be more precise. When we first meet Jesamiah, he and his crew are getting ready to board a ship with a view to clearing it of all of its cargo.

Little does he know that on the ship that he is aiming to plunder is Tiola Oldstagh, a young girl with knowledge much older than her true age because she is a white witch. Tiola is heading for a new life in South Africa, escaping from the legacy of a tragic end to her parent's lives. With her skills in midwifery and medicine, Tiola is bound to find a welcome awaiting her in her new home, accompanied by her companion Jenna. What Tiola knows for sure is that her destiny is bound tightly to that of Jesamiah Acorne even though he has no clue who she is, or even that she exists at their first meeting.

Click on the image to visit more stops on the tour

There are several factors that good pirate stories need - adventure, danger, lots of rum - and this book has it in spades. This book is a heady mix of history, adventure, romance and fantasy.

It is however not all plain sailing. Where the book was strongest was in the imagining of the pirate life. Jesamiah is no Captain Jack Sparrow blithely careening from disaster to disaster and still managing to remain unharmed. Jesamiah faces very real consequences for is actions - injuries, arrest and more. I also enjoyed the flavour of the towns that are visited throughout the course of the book. Places like Nassau and Cape Town and the coast of Madagascar. I also enjoyed a cameo appearance by William Dampier - a man who spent some time exploring the Australian coastline before the continent was properly claimed as an English possessoin.

What didn't work so well for me were the mystical elements - the craft that Tiola uses throughout the book, and most particularly the addition of Tethys to the storytelling. She is the sea and she demands payment from those who dare disturb her.

It feels as though I have been reading Helen Hollick's books for a very long time, but  a quick look at my handy spreadsheet tells me that I first encountered her books only just over two years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed her Arthurian Pendragon's Banner trilogy and also A Hollow Crown about Emma, queen of England in the time before William Conqueror invaded England. Whilst I liked the characters of Jesamiah and will eventually read more of their adventures, I think I prefer the more straight down the line historical fiction that the author does so well.

There are two more books already published in this series, Bring it Close and Pirate Code, and another book on the way soon called Ripples in the Sand.

Check back tomorrow for a guest post from Helen and an international giveaway!

British History Week: Helen Hollick on British History

Why is British History so fascinating to authors and readers" perhaps with a general answer to the question and then more specifically their particular area of interest.

I think the fascination with history is because it is a part of us – each and every one of us has a link to the past through our ancestors. That link goes back, and back and back to the first humans - to Mitochondrial Eve, the first known DNA mother who’s daughters eventually walked out of what is now Africa. The maternal line of DNA is a single unbroken thread for every woman, passing from mother to daughter to mother through thousands of generations.

The DNA that controls breathing and the lungs has barely changed in all those years – so I am breathing virtually the same as my grandmother did back in the year 1066 – and I know I had a grandmother who lived then because I am here now to prove it!

What she did, who she was, where she lived, I have no knowing. Except she had a daughter….. who had a daughter….

I often wonder what draws people to specific periods, though. I have no interest whatsoever in the Tudor or Victorian period, yet my daughter is fascinated by Elizabeth I. My interest is Roman and Anglo Saxon Britain, and seafaring history, especially the early 1700’s.

I think events of the past leave their echo, a sort of energy, that we can still feel – like warmth clings to a sandy beach or to a stone wall. I also think our memories are passed down along with our DNA – how else to explain instinct (how do we, and animals, know to suck milk, to get up and walk?)

For I Am The Chosen King (Harold the King is its UK title) I needed to write something after I had finished my Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy – I chose to write King Harold II’s story because he is a local “hero” to where I live. As Earl of Essex he founded the Abbey at Waltham Abbey a fifteen minute drive from my home, and his common law wife, Edith Swanneck lived a few miles further at Nazeing. He would have ridden and hunted in Epping Forest, where I used to ride, but now walk my dog nearly every day. He would have sailed up the River Lea, where I also walk. Strolling along the riverside path on a tranquil evening it is so easy to imagine a Longship coming upriver….

It was rather nice researching about a man who possibly walked in the same places as I could walk!

I am also interested in writing historical novels along the lines of “what might have really happened”. I was sick and tired of British History in the majority of history books starting at 1066 with the “glorious” Norman Conquest, the general belief that William had the right to be King, and that Harold was a useless commander – all Norman propaganda.

I decided to write about Harold and the Battle of Hastings from the English point of view because I thought it was about time that something nearer the truth was told.

Helen Hollick's latest book I am the Chosen King has just been released in the US by Sourcebooks. It was previously published in the UK under the title Harold the King

Helen Hollick's Books of a Lifetime (includes a giveaway)

We are very pleased to welcome Helen Hollick to Historical Tapestry today to share her Books of a Lifetime! Read to the end of the post for details on how you can win one of two copies of her new book The Forever Queen. 

The first book has to be the Little Grey Rabbit by Alison Uttley. I have a clear image in my mind of leaving the children's library clutching one of her little books, thrilled because I had not “read” it. I was about 3½.

I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t absorbed in a book. I was a lonely child, very shy, and without many friends. My friends were all characters in books, especially the characters I could identify with. Like the one I met on my 10th birthday (I am now 57) I liked books, but assuming the one given as a present was going to be boring, I unwrapped the parcel rather half-heartedly. To my delight it was a pony story. I so wanted a pony of my own, but would not get one until I was 16. Ruby Fergusson’s Jill’s Gymkhana filled the gap. I still have the book, and I still enjoy reading it. Black Beauty and Monica Edwards’ Summer of the Great Secret and Wish for a Pony, were also special favourites.

From reading about ponies, I started writing my own pony stories when I was about 13. So that birthday present is, indeed, an inspirational treasure.

In my teenage years and early twenties fantasy influenced me a lot. Escapism, a way to blot out the loneliness and low self esteem. Characters in books are always there when you need them. They never let you down, call you names or make fun of you. The world of Imagination was a better place and the characters who lived there were my best friends. Many of them still are.

Susan Cooper’s Dark Is Rising remains a firm favourite. It is the second of a series, and best of the five I think. I was reading it late at night. At about 1 a.m. I finally turned out the light. Lay there wondering what happened next. Gave up. Put the light on again and read it all the way through. Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonflight was another book I read straight through, non stop.

The first character I fell totally in love with was Sharon Penman’s Llewelyn ap Fawr in Here Be Dragons. I was searching for novels about King Arthur in my local library - I was trying to write my own novel about Guinevere at the time, and I noticed the spine had a sword on it. Ah, Arthurian, I thought. It wasn’t, but I read it anyway. Wow! What a read – what a man!

Sharon completely captivated me and I knew from reading her book that I wanted to write like she did.

A contrary book that I did not get on with was Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon, yet I owe it a great debt of gratitude. While it was a good read, I couldn’t stand her portrayal of Guinevere. I had been attempting to write about King Arthur since reading Mary Stewart’s Hollow Hills and Crystal Cave, but most of my scribblings ended up in the bin (well before the days of a delete button on a computer!) Bradley’s Guinevere irritated me. I just did not see Gwenhwyfar, as I called her, to be like that. Reading one scene I became so frustrated that I threw the book across the room. That was it, I decided. I will write my own. The Kingmaking, the first of my Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy was the result.

A close second to Llewelyn is Elizabeth Chadwick’s William Marshal in the Greatest Knight – boy is he a character to leap into a fictional bed with!

My overall author heroine, however, is Rosemary Sutcliff. If I can write half as good as her best fiction I will be content. Eagle of the Ninth. Frontier Wolf, Sun Horse, Moon Horse. I cannot read Mark of the Horse Lord without crying at the end – no matter how many times I read it. I have a letter from Rosemary written in her own hand, wishing me luck with my Arthurian series (I’d written to her to say how much I loved Sword at Sunset, her own Arthurian novel.) That letter is a treasured possession. When we had a fire in my home, several years ago, the first thing I checked were the pets. The second, my daughter’s very expensive saddles (yes horses are still important in my life) the third was Rosemary’s letter. I cherish it.

Do historical characters become so real in novels because their spirits linger here with us, waiting for their lives to be retold? Is that why they remain great men and women, I wonder?

And do the made-up characters exist in another, parallel world? One which we can occasionally access and which we rather quaintly call “Imagination”?

I think so.

*****************

THE FOREVER QUEEN BY HELEN HOLLICK – IN STORES NOVEMBER 2010

What kind of woman becomes the wife of two kings, and the mother of two more?

Saxon England, 1002. Not only is Æthelred a failure as King, but his young bride, Emma of Normandy, soon discovers he is even worse as a husband. When the Danish Vikings, led by Swein Forkbeard and his son, Cnut, cause a maelstrom of chaos, Emma, as Queen, must take control if the Kingdom—and her crown—are to be salvaged. Smarter than history remembers, and stronger than the foreign invaders who threaten England’s shores, Emma risks everything on a gamble that could either fulfill her ambitions and dreams or destroy her completely.

Emma, the Queen of Saxon England, comes to life through the exquisite writing of Helen Hollick, who shows in this epic tale how one of the most compelling and vivid heroines in English history stood tall through a turbulent fifty-year reign of proud determination, tragic despair, and triumph over treachery.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Helen Hollick lives in northeast London with her husband, daughter and a variety of pets, which include several horses, cats and two dogs. She has two major interests: Roman / Saxon Britain and the Golden Age of Piracy--the early eighteenth century. Sourcebooks Landmark will release the next chapter on Helen’s 1066 saga, I Am the Chosen King, in Spring 2011. For more information, please visit http://www.helenhollick.net/.

Giveaway Details

Thanks to Sourcebooks we have two copies of The Forever Queen to giveaway. The contest will close on 1 December

Rules

Giveaway open to US/Canada addresses only
One entry per person.
To enter leave a comment, including your email address so we can contact the winner.

Helen Hollick on Why I Love Arthur and Gwenhwyfar

We are very pleased to welcome Helen Hollick today as part of the blog tour to promote her book, Pendragon's Banner, the second book in the Pendragon's Banner trilogy.

Four reasons why I love the two main characters of my Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy –
Arthur and Gwenhwyfar by Helen Hollick

1. Arthur, my King Arthur, hero of my Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy, is not a Medieval knight in armour. He is not a chivalric king who puts his religious whims before duty to his Kingdom and people. Nor is he the sort of man who would say and do nothing if he caught his wife in bed with another man. I’m sorry to say, the familiar tales of that King Arthur do not interest me. Those stories may be romantic, conjuring idylls of courtly life and love and a duty to God above duty to duty… But that sort of tale, and that sort of man is not for me!

My Arthur is rough, tough and capable of being an utter b*****d! To be a warlord in the Dark Ages of British history, to fight hard to gain a kingdom and fight even harder to keep it, he would have to be. He puts the men of his elite cavalry above all else – why? Because without their loyalty he would be nothing. A good general always puts his men first.
Next in line is the love of his life, Gwenhwyfar.


2. I started writing what eventually became The Kingmaking after getting cross with Marion Zimmer Bradley’s portrayal of Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere). She was such a useless, whining bore! At one stage I threw the book across the room, shouting; “Oh pull yourself together woman!” The real Gwenhwyfar would never have been like that – at least I could not picture her as a timid, useless little mouse, squeaking because a boat was rocking about a bit. I saw her as brave, courageous and capable. She would carry a sword – and would know how to use it!
I saw her as feisty, as having a mind of her own – of knowing what she wanted and stopping at nothing until she got it.

Ms Bradley’s novel did me a favour though. I was so irritated I finally made up my mind to stop scribbling the reams of rubbish that were getting me nowhere as a writer, and started writing my novel.

And this time, I was going to finish it!

3. I deliberately set out to write something entirely different from the usual Arthurian tales. The Medieval stories are entirely made up, indeed it is not even certain that Arthur himself actually existed. Lancelot, Galahad, Gawain, the round table, Holy Grail – Camelot, and yes, even Merlin, are all made up characters invented to fit snugly in with the chivalric life of the 12th-13th Century Norman/Plantagenet Medieval Court. The quest for the Grail reflects the call to arms for the Crusades – early media manipulation.

The early stories of Arthur are nothing like this. There are a few familiar characters – Cei (Sir Kay) Bedwyr (Sir Bedevere) Morgause/Morgaine, Ectha (Sir Ector) and Uthr – Uther Pendragon, and Gwenhwyfar of course. There is also Ambrosius Aurelianus, Vortigern, Hengest, Horsa and an epic cast of other such characters from the distant pages of Post Roman British history.

The early Welsh stories of the 6th/7th century consist of battle lists, of battles fought and won against encroaching enemies - the Saxons. This Arthur is not chivalrous, in fact he was probably not even Christian. We hear of the Arthur who kicked a woman in the belly, who stole cattle from a monastery. Of his children, the sons of “Arthur the Soldier”; Llacheu, Gwydre and Amr. And Medraut who fell with Arthur at the last Battle of Camlann. Medraut is Mordred, but there is nothing in the early legends to suggest he was a traitor. All we know is that he died in the same battle as Arthur, so he could easily have been fighting on the same side.

My novels were to reflect the early legends. The tales that were told around hearth-fires on a long winters’ night, when old soldiers sat and remembered when they had fought alongside a man they had respected and loved.

It is the tales they told that I wanted to tell.

4. The relationship I portrayed between Arthur and Gwenhwyfar had to be very different from the Medieval stories. I could not – and would not - portray my Gwen as an adulteress who preferred the vain and arrogant man that is Lancelot (sorry, that is how I have always seen him.) over the man who was her hero, Lord and King - over Arthur.

I needed their relationship to be solid, one that would never, ever, be broken – yet one that lurched between the storms and hurricanes of arguments and fights. I had no intention of writing a romance, although their relationship was to be filled with romantic episodes; of a deep, unyielding love between the two of them. Their relationship was to be passionate. And deeply passionate people have huge swings of emotion. They love fiercely and fight as fierce.
Arthur is not physically loyal to Gwenhwyfar, he is a man who faces death nearly every day, who rides to battle knowing he may never come back. Sex is a need, a cathartic way of releasing the tension of bitter survival. To Arthur, sexual encounters mean nothing. It is Gwenhwyfar, and only Gwenhwyfar, he will ever love.

I have created my characters, Arthur and Gwenhwyfar, as real people. Things go wrong for them, there is soaring happiness and desperate tragedy in their lives. They misunderstand each other, sometimes intentionally, sometimes without realising it. But they would fight to the death for each other if necessary.

Arthur is driven by his need to rule a kingdom, Gwenhwyfar is driven by the need to be at her husband’s – her lover’s – side. The force that drives them, however – Life - is not always a kind mistress.

This is what a new reader recently sent me:

“Helen, you have written a book that has life in every page and so much texture that it takes you on a journey with each chapter. It is as if you are right there in the same room, tent, forest or dirt road as the characters. If you close your eyes for a second you can even smell the same smoke-filled air that they breath as they pass from one courtyard to another. The only way I can describe this to anyone who needs to know what to expect when they open this book is this:
‘the book is simply breathing in your hands.’”

To me, Arthur and Gwenhwyfar are not merely fictitious characters in a historical novel. They are real. They laugh and cry, they sing and shout. They bleed, they hurt, they are alive – they breathe life into my humble interpretation of the Arthurian legend.

And that is why I love them so much.



Main Website: http://www.helenhollick.com/
Blog profiles: http://acorne.blogspot.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/helen.hollick
Monthly Journal: www.helenhollick.net/journal.html
Follow Publicist Paul Samuelson @psamuelson01

http://www.helenhollick.net/culpa41.html
my own hints and tips for aspiring writers.

You may like to check out other stops on the Pendragon's Banner tour:

The Tome Travellers Weblog  (10/12)

A Reader’s Respite (10/12)

Carla Nayland’s Historical Fiction (10/13)

Enchanted by Josephine (10/14)

Fumbling with Fiction (10/14)

Found Not Lost (10/15)

Nan Hawthorne’s Booking the Middle Ages (10/15)

Jenny Loves to Read (10/16)

The Review From Here (10/17)

The Courtier’s Book (10/18)

Chick Loves Lit (10/19)

Love Romance Passion (10/20)

He Followed Me Home… Can I Keep Him? (10/20)

The Impasse Strikes Back (10/21)

S. Krishna’s Books (10/22)

Books Like Breathing (10/23)

Passages to the Past (10/24)

Virginie Says (10/25)

Readaholic (10/25)

Reading with Monie (10/26)

Rundpinne (10/26)

Books & Needlepoint (10/27)

Capricious Reader (10/27)

Books are my Only Friends (10/27)

A Sea of Books (10/28)

Bloody Bad (10/28)

Revenge of the Book Nerds! (10/28)

Booksie’s Blog (10/28)

Devourer of Books (10/29)

Peeking Between the Pages (10/29)

Starting Fresh (10/29)

Historical Tapestry (10/30)

Medieval Bookworm (10/30)

Book Soulmates (10/30)

Susan’s Art & Words (10/30)

Steven Till (10/31)

Café of Dreams (10/31)

HT News

Another Helen Hollick interview, this time at Medieval Bookworm. It seems that Hollick is going to be going on a blog tour, and there is a list of of the tour stops on Meghan's review of The Kingmaking.

Michelle Moran has interviewed Jules Watson about her new book, The Swan Maiden.

I mentioned a week or so ago that there was a new HF author group blog. Now, there has been a change of title to Early Medieval Britain and there are new contributors to the blog as well. The current list is Anne Gilbert, Carla Nayland, Elizabeth Chadwick, Kathleen Guler, Meghan Kawka and Nan Hawthorne.

HT News

UK author Helen Hollick is the author of a number of historical fiction novels. Her Arthurian novel, The Kingmaking has just been released in the US by Sourcebooks. Over at News and Random Musings about Historical Novels, there is a short interview with Helen Hollick as well as a link to Margaret Donsbach's review.

Deanna Raybourn has launched her new website! Check it out because it is gorgeous.

Harold the King by Helen Hollick

An Epic Retelling of the tide of Events that led to the Norman Conquest of England, through the Charismatic and compelling characters at its heart

England 1044, The Godwines are on the most powerful families in the country. As each of Earl Godwine’s six sons reach maturity, so they are rewarded with title and influence. Harold Godwin has inherited his father’s diplomatic skills – but none of his lust for battle.

In Normandy, William, bastard son of a duke, is trained to be a solider. A charismatic leader, he inspires those who pledge loyalty with the promise of ever greater victories.

King Edward both influenced and angered by his powerful mother Emma, is England’s reluctant monarch. His passions lie away from the tedium of government, as his ambitious wife Edith, soon discovers.

Meanwhile, Harold stature grows – and with it the pressure to abandon his love, Edyth Swanneck, and make an alliance of political advantage. William’s spirited young bride Mathilde has brought him land and wealth to further his cause – and a stormy partnership.

As a Power struggle begins to emerge, events take a dramatic and bloody turn. For the ultimate prize is England’s royal crown…

I got this book because one day at work I was bored so I decided to look at the library catalogue and this book grabbed my attention. There is one problem with ordering library books online, you never know how big there are until you pick it up. When I got this one I was quickly filled with dread, this book is just shy of 700 pages. I was concerned that the story would get bogged down with details. However once I started reading I was pleasantly surprise, yes the book is detailed and it involves a lot of character, however it flows really nicely.

This is the story of Harold Godwines battle to do what is best for England and what is best for his family. This story spans over 20 years and two countries, with many other countries making an appearance.

This story was set a long time ago yet the themes, Jealousy, Greed and Love in story a still very relevant and relatable today.

The Godwines are a very powerful family in England, and the King and his adviser Robert Champart do not always like this. There are many battles and many family problems through out the novel and this gives you the chance to get to know all of the important people. I felt that Harold really came alive through his love story with Edyth. He falls in love with Edyth shortly after he becomes Earl of East Anglia, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire however as Edyth is not of noble birth and Harold can not take her as a Christian wife but he can take her as a handfast wife which was the tradition of the old laws. While Harold is the main character the story also focuses on William the Bastard, King Edward and most of Harold family.

The following quote from Harold to his son I think sums up the struggle that Harold faced throughout out the novel

“Which takes precedence, danger to yourself and your immediate family, or to the wider spread of the people you hold responsibility for? You or Your Country”

Overall I really enjoyed this book and found it rich in detail and a compelling read. Also I really liked the fact the author included a note at the back of the book explaining how she came to some conclusions and also what she modified within her story.