The Good Death by S.D. Sykes

Hodder & Stoughton | 2021 (5 August) | 304p | Review copy and Bought copy | Buy the book

It is 1370 and time has passed at the manor of Somershill in Kent. But the past has never been so urgent for its lord, Oswald de Lacy. Oswald’s mother, a formidable woman, is dying and in her possession is a letter that raises ghosts from that terrible time of 1349 when the Black Death crossed the land, killing so many in its path, including Oswald’s father and brothers. Oswald’s mother needs to understand what happened all those years before in order to make peace with her son before it is too late. And so Oswald sits by her bedside and recalls the time when young women disappeared from the village and he, a young novice monk, tried to find out why, when every day the world grew smaller as communities shrank into themselves, or fled, as the plague crept relentlessly nearer.

The Oswald de Lacy series is wonderful. It’s beautifully written and it moves around the years, and around Europe (Oswald has spent time in Venice), but its focus is always the plague years and always this Kentish haven. Almost ten years have gone by since The Bone Fire but this fifth novel, The Good Death, calls a halt and instead goes back into the past. We spend brief interludes in the ‘present’ of 1370 but the majority of the time is spent in the days leading up to the arrival of the Black Death when Oswald found himself with reasons to investigate the disappearance, and presumed murders, of several girls from the village. At the time, Oswald was a novice monk on the cusp of manhood, never expecting to inherit. Everything was about to change.

The story, as usual in these fabulous novels, is excellent and the further it progresses the more involved the reader becomes. It has a gentle pace but during the second half I found myself utterly engrossed and read all of that half in one sitting. The mood and atmosphere build and build as the plague creeps ever nearer. The village feels like a refuge but for how long? And where are the young women? The answers lie in the woods around the village and, in that lawless place, anything is possible. It is sinister and menacing in equal measure while Oswald, the innocent, falls into the thick of it.

The Good Death is beautifully written and immersed in its time, surely one of the most terrible periods in English history. Of course, this was written, and read, in a time of pandemic and that certainly adds to its mood and perhaps makes it easier for us to relate to these frightened communities. You don’t need to have read the other novels to enjoy this one, although you might have a greater appreciation of Oswald’s mother and sister if you have done. The focus is most definitely on the past, although that is rather pleasing as it means we have fresh light thrown on the earlier novels in the series. It’s clever, without a doubt.

I love Oswald. He feels real to me, as do his family and friends. I marvel at the way in which the author evokes this feudal age. It’s so well drawn and full of lots of historical details about life, society, law, medicine, work, obedience in a mid 14th-century manor, in which workers are compared to mute insects, and monastery. Oswald bridges society and in some ways is very alone and on its margins. There is a strong sense that he must let the past go and here we find out why.

The Good Death is a fabulous historical crime mystery and I didn’t guess it at all! The historical setting is great, as is its location in woody Kent. The story is so good but this book goes bigger than that, finding a way in to explore a time in our history when death became more horrifying than ever and when feudalism itself came under attack from an unexpected foe, plague.

Other reviews
Plague Land
The Butcher Bird
City of Masks
The Bone Fire

A Marriage of Lions by Elizabeth Chadwick

Sphere | 2021 (9 September) | 528p | Review copy | Buy the book

It is 1238 and Joanna of Swanscombe serves as a lady in waiting to Eleanor of Provence, Henry III’s Queen.  Joanna’s future is uncertain despite her illustrious heritage – she is granddaughter to William Marshal – but many stand between Joanna and any chance of inheriting her family’s land and titles. But all of that changes and suddenly Joanna discovers herself to be one of England’s wealthiest heiresses. She has become a prize and the King decides to award her to his own half-brother, William de Valence. Now a grand lady in her own right, Joanna’s relationship with the Queen changes as the nobles of England, led by Simon de Montfort, turn against Henry’s half-brothers. Civil war grips the land and Joanna and William must use all of their skill to avoid the destruction of everything they hold dear.

Elizabeth Chadwick has long been a favourite novelist of mine and the novels of hers that I love the most are those that focus on William Marshal and his extraordinary family, as well as on the women who are less well known to history but nevertheless played a significant role in public life in the 12th and 13th centuries. A Marriage of Lions gives us just such a story, and it is every bit as wonderful as the author’s last novel The Irish Princess, which I adored. Joanna is a fabulous character and, as we follow her from childhood to middle age, we experience so much of life at the court of Henry III, domestic and political, a place divided by land- and power-hungry lords, these conflicts intensified by strategic marriages. There can be no peace for Joanna once she’s wealthy – others want that that wealth – and once she’s married above her station.

It’s a fantastic story and it immerses the reader in so many ways. The domestic details of a privileged life in the early 13th century are particularly interesting, with Joanna moving between palaces, castles and manors, turning fortified walls into a home, even travelling between England and the Continent. It is grand until we’re brought into the birthing chambers of Joanna and the women she knows. It is then that these women are faced with a life and death situation. The brutal reality is that women faced death throughout their child bearing years and Joanna, the Queen and other women in the novel give birth many times. Death is a companion and a shadow. Rank is irrelevant to it. There are moments in this novel of such sadness.

Then there’s the political and martial side to Henry III’s court. The son of King John, Henry is a weak ruler and often a weak man. The novel takes place over a fair few years and we watch Henry and his wife change in character. Joanna feels it keenly. It’s actually tragic to watch Henry’s decline and the Queen’s increasing hostility. The title of the book, A Marriage of Lions, is so well-chosen and apt. There are many lions and lionesses in this novel, not least of whom is Simon de Montfort, who is well drawn here as an appalling bully. Henry is trapped between big personalities, including that of his brother William de Valence, Joanna’s husband. I loved William. He is a man of action and a man who frequently makes errors of judgement but he is always likeable. His marriage with Joanna is arranged but it is strong. It’s such a pleasure to read about Joanna and William’s life together and the way in which they face their trials.

Elizabeth Chadwick illuminates this period of medieval history like no other author I can recall. The men, women and children of her novels are so believable and genuine. Their motivations and aspirations are so well understood. I’ll be visiting Goodrich Castle in Wales shortly and, when I do, I’ll think of Joanna walking in its grounds. She lived there so many hundreds of years ago but, thanks to Elizabeth Chadwick, I can feel a connection. Likewise, when I’m next in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, just down the road from me, I’ll stand where the royal palace of Woodstock once stood and imagine Henry III and his court feasting, laughing and fighting in its great hall.

A Marriage of Lions tells an utterly engrossing and captivating story, giving Joanna and William the limelight they deserve, bringing them out of the shadow of the monstrous and astonishing Simon de Montfort. I was particularly fascinated by the depiction of Henry III’s marriage but Joanna and William take centre stage and shine in this fabulous, immersive novel.

Other reviews
The Greatest Knight
The Scarlet Lion
The Time of Singing
Lady of the English
The Summer Queen
The Winter Crown
The Autumn Throne
Templar Silks
The Irish Princess

Cathedral by Ben Hopkins

Europa Editions | 2021 ( 21 January) | 619p | Bought copy | Buy the book

In 1229 Rettich and his brother Emmerich arrive, penniless, in the (fictional) German city of Hagenburg. Rettich has a talent – he can build with stone, sculpt it – and Hagenburg would be the perfect place to settle with its cathedral under construction. But first Rettich must buy his freedom from the Bishop because in this time and in this place people are rarely born free. The cathedral is constructed with the soaring ambition of Eugenius von Zabern, the Bishop’s treasurer. It is designed by Achim von Esinbach, an architect who has visions. He loves Odile, a daughter of a family of mystics. The city is protected by Manfred, a soldier who learns that business has more to offer and marries Grete, a weaver. Funds for all come from the city’s Jews. Everyone is connected, joined together against attack from outside, but, for some, the enemy is within the town’s walls, represented by those who are different – mystics, Jews, women, the poor – to be feared and destroyed in the shadow of the cathedral.

Cathedral is a beautifully written and ambitious novel that on one level chronicles the construction of the cathedral in the Germany city of Hagenburg but, on another, presents the lives of Hagenburg’s people through the 13th century, a time of unrest, war, river piracy, heresy and suspicion. Several generations of people pass through the story, although some characters remain central to the life of the city. We meet the masons, the merchants, the local churchmen and nobles, the mystics, the soldiers, the Jews, their wives and children, their husbands and lovers. This is a novel full of life, a snapshot of a particular place at a particular time in medieval Europe. It is indeed engrossing.

This is a novel about life but it also, not surprisingly considering the period in which it is set, about death. Death takes many forms in a place where life is short but sometimes it can be absolutely shocking and there are scenes here involving the Church’s crusade against the mysticism of the Cathars that are horrifying in their cruelty and hypocrisy. There are also moments of brutality, ambition that soars and then is crushed due to the nature of this world and society.

Ben Hopkins does such an astonishing job of revealing medieval European life by focusing on specific examples, drawn from across society, religions and wealth, gender and status. The mutual relationship between the classes is essential but it is also fragile and vulnerable to assault. This is a city in which pirates and bandits flourish, and not all of them are as they first appear.

Cathedral is an engrossing and compelling novel, especially during the first two thirds of the book when I felt heartily involved with the characters. I did find it a dark and troubling read (this is not an ‘easy’ period of history) but it is a memorable one. It’s difficult to imagine a more convincing portrayal of life and death in 13th-century Europe.

Cross of Fire by David Gilman

Head of Zeus | 2020 (Pb: 10 December) | 464p | Review copy and Bought copy | Buy the book | Listen to the audiobook

Cross of Fire is the sixth novel in David Gilman’s Masters of War series but I think it stands alone very well. Sir Thomas Blackstone has reached another phase of his career and now his son Henry shares the martial stage. But I really do recommend that you read the earlier novels, beginning with Master of War, because they tell a fascinating tale of the Hundred Years War through the story of a common archer, knighted at the Battle of Crécy, who is now Edward III’s Master of War.

It is the winter of 1362 and Sir Thomas Blackstone and his men are working to claim King Edward’s lands in France. Readers of the series know how costly this campaign has been for Blackstone, with so many of his men and, so tragically, most of his family dead. Sir Thomas is a man who has friends around him who would, and do, die willingly for him and his cause but he also makes enemies easily and they are scattered around France. As he rescues a noble lady and her daughter, abandoned by her land-hungry, vile husband, Sir Thomas makes another. He fights for Edward III and his son, the Black Prince, but he also fights for justice and nothing fires Blackstone’s rage more than a woman and her daughter left to die at the hands of the many brigands that ravage these lands.

Cross of Fire is Blackstone’s story but I really enjoyed the fact that we have much more of his son Henry here. Henry is now 14 years old, a squire, but coming in to his own, not just because of his skills with a sword but also because of his brains. He wants nothing more than to go to University but he can’t because there are men out there who want him, a son of Blackstone, dead. Instead, Henry must prove himself in other ways and he sets out to do that here. It’s extremely dangerous, anxiety inducing for the gruff soldier that is Blackstone, but it is thoroughly exciting for the reader.

There is so much action in the novel as Blackstone and his men battle their way across France, with everything from small skirmishes to taking on whole fortresses. These were violent, brutal times and Sir Thomas is in the heart of it and, as usual, he comes up against some repellant villains. But there is more to this series than action. David Gilman is a fine writer who knows his stuff, not just about medieval military history but also about the effects of war on those who fight it and those who are innocent and must suffer it. This is an extremely well-written novel.

I must say though that I do wonder now how much further this series has to run but it is refreshing to see Henry come into his own, causing new relationships, alliances and rivalries to develop.

I listened to the audiobook and it was brilliantly read by Colin Mace! He fully captures the tension, drama and extreme danger of it all.

For something a little different, I heartily recommend David Gilman’s Night Flight to Paris.

Other reviews and features
Master of War
Defiant Unto Death (Master of War 2)
Gate of the Dead (Master of War 3) – review and interview
Viper’s Blood (Master of War 4)
Scourge of Wolves (Master of War 5)
An extract of Viper’s Blood
Guest post – War in the Last Horseman
Night Flight to Paris

Lionheart by Ben Kane

Orion | 2020 (28 May) | 400p | Review copy | Buy the book

It is 1179 and Henry II rages war against Ireland’s kings. Ferdia, more usually known as Rufus, is a young Irish nobleman who is now a hostage to secure the good behaviour of his family. Rufus is taken to Striguil Castle (now known as Chepstow) where he is put in the charge of the powerful de Clare family. As the years pass, Rufus becomes ever more distant from his homeland, tormented by a brute of a knight and distracted by his own desire to become a squire to a great lord. When Rufus saves the life of Henry’s son, the charismatic warrior Richard, Rufus’s life is changed forever and dictated by new loyalties and new battles to fight. This is an uneasy time. As the King’s health declines, his sons turn against one another in a scramble for power and land. Rufus has his part to play in a struggle that will divide the land and put a family at war with itself.

Ben Kane is known to many of us as a fine writer of Roman historical fiction and so it came as a surprise to me to learn that he was turning his attention to that other favourite historical period of mine – the late 12th century and the reigns of Henry II and Richard the Lionheart, two of the most mesmerising figures in English history. Lionheart, the beginning of a new trilogy, tells the story of Richard through the fictional character of Rufus, whose own story is every bit as action-packed and dangerous as Richard’s.

Above all else, Lionheart is an adventure and it’s a thoroughly exciting one as we follow Rufus through his early, horrendous months as a hostage and his personal struggle against the cruel Robert FitzAldelm to his time in the service and retinue of Richard, then the Duke of Aquitaine. It’s told in the first person and this places us in the heart of the action and there is plenty of it, in England and on the continent where Richard must contend with not only his own brothers and their allies but also with the King of France. If there’s one person that seems to attract trouble even more than Rufus, it’s Richard, a man born to skirmish, besiege and battle.

But there’s more to the novel than fighting. We’re also taken inside castles where courtliness guides behaviour and squires pursue love, or something much less refined as they make their beds in the great hall. Rufus is a fickle lover, demonstrating how the ideal of chivalry and courtesy, exemplified by the greatest knight, William Marshal (who, I’m thrilled to say, plays a role here), wasn’t the reality for most. I enjoyed the moments spent inside castles just as much as I did those spent outside.

As usual, Ben Kane writes very well and the pages fly through the fingers. The story of Richard I is a familiar one but there is so much to it and it deserves another retelling, especially by an author who is clearly deeply immersed in the period and perhaps relishing the shift from Rome. Lionheart reads as if it was fun to write and this definitely rubs off on the appreciative reader. Historical fiction provides escapism during these difficult and strange times and Lionheart fits the bill perfectly.

And if you haven’t read any of Ben’s Roman historical fiction yet (and why not?!), take a look at the reviews below. My favourites are the Spartacus books and the Eagles trilogy.

Other reviews
Hannibal: Enemy of Rome
Hannibal: Fields of Blood
Hannibal: Clouds of War
Spartacus
Spartacus: Rebellion
Eagles at War
Hunting the Eagles
Eagles in the Storm
Clash of Empires
(and others) A Day of Fire: a novel of Pompeii

The Irish Princess by Elizabeth Chadwick

Sphere | 2019 (12 September) | 480p | Review copy | Buy the book

It is 1152 when the wife of Diarmait, King of Leinster in Ireland, gives birth to Aiofe. Beautiful and clever, Aiofe will not only be much loved by her father, she will be prized by him as he uses her to help cling on to power in this most tempestuous of places in which to hold a kingdom. He has rivals on every side and his sons have become little more than bargaining pieces, held hostage to guarantee Diarmait’s oaths of loyalty, oaths he will never keep. There is a new powerful king across the water in England, Henry II, and he wants to spread that power westwards.

Henry also wants to control Richard de Clare, the Earl of Striguil (now Chepstow) and once the Earl of Pembroke. Richard had been on the side of the loser in the civil war that preceded Henry’s rise to the throne. Richard’s paying for it now but his influence is still strong. And it gets stronger still when Diarmit marries his young daughter to Richard, creating an alliance that will change the balance of power in this region. But Aiofe is no mere pawn. She owns titles and lands in her own right. She is a formidable woman, with three powerful men in her thrall – father, husband and King Henry. Aiofe is also deeply in love with this remarkable man, Richard, to whom she is so happily wed.

I cannot overstate my love of Elizabeth Chadwick’s writing and her novels. It’s hard to imagine anyone else who can immerse the reader so deeply in the medieval period, bringing to such vivid and colourful life kings and queens but also those other people whose names are known to history but so little else. Elizabeth Chadwick’s great writing love is William Marshal, The Greatest Knight, and here she turns her attention to his mother-in-law Aiofe, a beautiful Irish princess who was so much more than that. I knew nothing about Aiofe before reading The Irish Princess but now I am fascinated by her and feel that I’ve been given a glimpse into her extraordinary life in 12th-century Ireland and England.

It’s an incredible story and it begins in Ireland, a place of war, violence and passion. This is stunning stuff, with battles, feasting, love and hatred, as well as great emotion and trauma. I couldn’t have been more engrossed. And then the novel moves to England as Aiofe marries the love of her life. Life becomes a struggle as her husband Richard de Clare is pitted against Henry II, although between the three of them there is a kind of friendship that absolutely fascinates.

Elizabeth Chadwick knows this period inside out and we reap the rewards of this knowledge with a novel built upon incredible historical details and insight. Objects, clothing, rooms, buildings, places are all described with such richness. You really feel as if you’re in the room with these people, listening to them speak, watching them move. It all feels so real even though this novel is set such a long time ago and these are lives so different from our own. And because it feels so real we care deeply for these people, especially Aiofe and Richard. Expect strong emotion. I cried ugly tears more than once. I was so involved in Aiofe’s story.

This marvellous novel is a fierce contender for my novel of the year. It completely immerses the reader in these lives lived so long ago. It’s an incredible story, extremely well-researched and very, very moving. Elizabeth Chadwick is a master at putting us in the room with people from the past – Diarmait is not a man to forget in a hurry. There is so much vivid colour but it all feels natural and real. I’ve loved so many of Elizabeth Chadwick’s novels and The Irish Princess is right there among the very best, equalling The Greatest Knight, which, considering how breathtakingly good that novel is, is high praise indeed.

Other reviews
The Greatest Knight
The Scarlet Lion
The Time of Singing
Lady of the English
The Summer Queen
The Winter Crown
The Autumn Throne
Templar Silks

The Bone Fire by S.D. Sykes

Hodder & Stoughton | 2019, Pb 2020| 308p | Review copy | Buy the book

It is 1361 and plague has returned to England and it’s just as devastating as it was a decade before. The difference is that this time people know what to expect and they are terrified. Oswald de Lacy, Lord of Sommershill in Kent, flees with his wife, child and mother to the safety of a remote castle on an island surrounded by marshes, owned by his friend Godfrey who is about to seal off his fortress against the approaching onslaught of disease. But when the portcullis is shut, the small group sealed within are uneasy in each other’s company and it isn’t long before one of them is murdered. Oswald can either leave and risk the plague, already working its way through the villages beyond the walls, or stay inside and try and protect his family by catching the killer among them. Everyone is a suspect and the death toll is rising.

The Bone Fire is the fourth novel in the Somershill Manor series by S.D. Sykes and, as with the others, it is an excellent novel. The book works well as a stand alone historical mystery but I do think that the reader would benefit from knowing what Oswald has been through since the events of the first novel Plague Land. Set in 1350, that novel portrayed the dramatic impact that plague had on Oswald in 1350 and since then he has had much to endure, culminating in the previous novel City of Masks, in which Oswald travelled to Venice where events once more changed his life. It’s that life that Oswald must now protect in Castle Eden.

I love the setting of The Bone Fire within this crowded medieval castle, filled with servants, a jester, lords, ladies and children, a priest, even a clock maker. These are interesting times. Medieval feudalism is very slowly giving way to a more modern era of science and humanism. The castle’s owner Godfrey bridges both worlds. I enjoyed the descriptions of the castle itself as well as the scenes of daily life within its walls. When characters do venture outside then it’s as if they’re entering a world of horror, with the stench in the air of the festering remains of the plague dead.

The characters are a great bunch, from Oswald and his argumentative and really rather unpleasant mother (we’re spared the sister this time round), to the strange clockmaker and his even stranger nephew.

Above all else, The Bone Fire tells an excellent story very well indeed. Poor Oswald carries the weight of the world on his shoulders as he tries to protect his family against the plague, but there is just as much to fear from his fellow man. I love murder mysteries set in a confined, isolated location, with just a select number of suspects. S.D. Sykes adapts this to the 14th century so well, with the added horror and tension of the Black Death lurking beyond the castle walls. The Bone Fire is a hugely entertaining novel which could well be my favourite book of the series so far.

Other reviews
Plague Land
The Butcher Bird
City of Masks

The Turn of Midnight by Minette Walters

Allen & Unwin | 2018 (4 October) | 464p | Review copy | Buy the book

The Turn of Midnight follows on directly from The Last Hours and concludes this two-part series, so you’ll need to read them in order. This review assumes you’ve read The Last Hours.

It is late 1348 and the southern counties of England have gone quiet. Towns, villages and hamlets have been mostly silenced and emptied, by death and by the flight of those too terrified to stay and face the same fate as their loved ones, only to die somewhere else, friendless, instead. The small community at Develish in Dorseteshire survives within its moated enclosure due to the care and protection of Lady Anne. Their strict quarantine has kept them safe from the Black Death that killed Lady Anne’s husband, Sir Richard, a vile owner of land and souls. The serfs and slaves of Develish have been given the equality Lady Anne feels is due to all, and an education to go with it. One peasant, Thaddeus, a giant among men for his height and good sense, has risen to become Lady Anne’s most trusted friend but now he continues his travels across Dorseteshire seeking out the truth of what the pestilence has left behind. With him are five boys, fast growing into young men, and their journey will lead them to Blandeforde where everything that they, and Lady Anne, have achieved is put at the most terrible risk.

The Last Hours was such a welcome book – a new novel after many years by the fantastic Minette Walters in a new genre, historical fiction. And what a time she picked in which to set it. 1348 is such a pinnacle year in English history, not just for the Middle Ages but for all periods. England, like so many other places, was transformed by the torment of the Black Death and it could never be the same again for this de-populated land. To all intents and purposes, The Turn of Midnight opens in a post-apocalyptic world, a world that must be rebuilt, and the debate here is how that new world will be ordered – what will be the place of the peasant? and why did God allow so many to perish in such agony? Why did I survive?

I thoroughly enjoyed The Last Hours and The Turn of Midnight, which completes its story, is every bit as good. As it continues into the spring of 1349, the plague, at least in this part of England, has been left behind. Many survivors continue to hide in the most terrible conditions, imprisoned as much by their status as by their fears. Sheep roam free and ownerless but some peasants are too frightened to eat them and would prefer to starve. This is what centuries of feudalism have done to them. Other peasants, though, especially in the towns, are beginning to speak out, albeit cautiously. And it’s these beginnings of society’s transformation that is portrayed here with such colour and feeling.

The Turn of Midnight is on one level such an entertaining historical adventure as it recounts the journey of Thaddeus and his companions across an empty landscape. Many peasants would hardly have travelled and so I loved the section in which they encountered the sea for the first time. The joy of freedom is offset, though, by the desolation of some of the places they pass through. There are sights here that nobody should have to see.

Less time is spent in this novel in the Develish manor as the feeling grows that the time to cross the moat might be approaching but what we have is so well presented. There is change within, new people enter, so brilliantly observed by Minette Walters, while others are not the people they once were. As with Thaddeus and the boys with him, and all of the various people they encounter, everyone in this novel is beautifully brought to life. There are so many little touches that remind us that, although there are similarities between this world and our own, this is a very different, remote and possibly ultimately unknowable period of history. Language, for example, was almost a tool of oppression – the rich spoke in a different tongue, the poor of one area might be completely understood by the poor of another area, and the written word was the privileged knowledge of the few.

Then there is the role of priests, Christianity and religion in general. There is much talk of the deserving poor, the deserving dead, the role of mercy, charity and kindness – practical Christianity is put to test. Power, whether it’s in the hands of priests, stewards, lords, peasant elders or just men in general, is also another fascinating theme.

There is so much to be found within these two books. 1348 must surely rank among the worst of years of any age and Minette Walters brings the horror, desolation and terrible grief of it to life, while reminding us of its legacy for future generations. This is compelling historical fiction, which combines a thrilling story of adventure with some really big themes, all told with Minette Walter’s customary splendid flair.

Other review
The Last Hours

The Tudor Crown by Joanna Hickson

HarperCollins | 2018 (31 May) | 531p | Review copy | Buy the book

It is 1471. The Lancastrians have been defeated in battle. Edward IV of York is back on the throne once more and his great rival, Henry VI, is dead, presumed murdered in captivity while Henry’s queen has fled. The last hope and heir of the Lancastrian cause, Henry Tudor, must do likewise and so, in September 1471, Henry and his uncle Jaspar, the Earl of Pembroke, run for their lives, setting sail from south Wales for the continent. Their ship is hit by storms and they barely survive the crossing, arriving destitute on the shores of Brittany, an ignominious start to Henry’s exile. And there he must bide his time, coping with the absence from his mother and friends, dependent on the animosity between Brittany and France for his safety and upkeep.

Margaret Beaufort, Henry’s mother, must endure as best as she can in the court of her enemy, Edward IV. A widow, relatively young still, she is too valuable and noble a prize to be left to her own devices. Edward marries Margaret to his advisor Lord Stanley and keeps her close where he can keep an eye on her. Margaret swears to obey her king but she walks a tightrope – she never stops manoeuvring for the return of her son, Henry. Both Margaret and Henry must be prepared to sacrifice everything for their cause. They know their time will come.

In The Tudor Crown, Joanna Hickson picks up where the marvellous First of the Tudors left off. You certainly don’t need to have read the earlier novel first (although I think you’d want to anyway as it’s so brilliant) because The Tudor Crown begins afresh with Henry’s story, covering his years of exile, his journey from boy and squire to knight and diplomat, through to 1485 and that most famous of battles, the Battle of Bosworth. It’s hard to imagine a more fascinating period of British history – the close at last of the Wars of the Roses and the rise of that new dynasty, the Tudors. The end of the medieval world, perhaps, and the beginning of the modern age.

I love how Joanna Hickson tells the story of these remarkable fourteen years. The chapters alternate between Henry and his mother Margaret, each speaking in the first person (and, happily, in the past tense) and the result is a vivid and immediate tale of lives lived in such perilous circumstances. I couldn’t tell you which narrative I preferred because I think they’re both equally good. I enjoyed watching Henry grow into manhood, his ambition growing alongside his increasing realisation of his potential significance. This isolates him in many ways but it makes him strong, which is just as well as he has much to deal with in this war zone that is late 15th-century Brittany. We meet so many fascinating people in these exile sections and each has to decide whether to help or hinder Henry in his cause.

Margaret’s story is just as intriguing, with the added appeal of observing the court of Edward IV and his infamous queen. This is an unhappy place. Never has a royal family been so divided. It’s enthralling, it really is, and there’s Margaret in the middle, viewed with suspicion by all and paying the price for it. The relationship between Margaret and her husband Lord Stanley is so well portrayed. It’s hardly a domestic paradise but both Margaret and Stanley know the rules of how to make an arranged marriage palatable.

Scattered throughout are letters between Henry and his mother, their only form of contact for so many years. I love what these added to the story and to our feel for their relationship.

I really enjoyed the shifting focus of The Tudor Crown – we’re well aware of the significance of Henry and of his mother’s plotting for the future of England but we’re also shown them as fully rounded people, albeit people who know that they are far from ordinary. They must deal with their absence from one another, their enforced relationships with people they don’t trust, and their precarious positions. Henry is left almost friendless while still just a boy. His resilience is extraordinary. He is most certainly a king in making.

Henry’s destiny hangs over the novel from the beginning and when it finally arrives I couldn’t read these pages fast enough. This is a fantastic telling of the Battle of Bosworth. Respect is given to all sides, including Richard III whose courage on the day is not in doubt.

The Tudors are the most famous family in British history and their story is an extremely familiar one. But in The Tudor Crown the origin of the Tudor dynasty is explored with such colour and warmth. This is a complicated story but it’s brought together very well and Joanna Hickson demonstrates how the success of Henry VII was every bit as dependent on cunning as it was on victory in battle. And Henry was certainly in debt to his mother whose influence was crucial for his success.

I’ve always enjoyed Joanna Hickson’s novels but I suspect The Tudor Crown could be my favourite. It’s such a wonderful story and Joanna Hickson does it full justice with her engrossing, lively and engaging prose. I wonder if she will return to King Henry’s story – I do hope so.

Other reviews and features
The Agincourt Bride
The Tudor Bride
Red Rose, White Rose
First of the Tudors
An interview
Guest post – What’s In a Name?

Templar Silks by Elizabeth Chadwick

Sphere | 2018 (1 March) | 496p | Review copy | Buy the book

It is April 1219 and William Marshal, England’s greatest knight, is nearing the end of his long and eventful life. As he lies in his home, surrounded by his family, William sends one of his knights to his property in Wales to retrieve the silks that he brought home from pilgrimage to Jerusalem many years before. William always intended to be buried in them. And so now his thoughts drift to that adventure, to his pilgrimage which was conducted as a promise to, and in the name of, William’s master – Henry, the Young King and eldest son and heir of Henry II, who died with a stain on his soul. Only William could wipe it clean.

In 1183 William Marshal was in his prime, celebrated for his military prowess and lauded for his chivalric values – a true and great knight indeed. But he was still a landless knight, dependent on the patronage of others, especially the family of Henry II and the imprisoned queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. When the Young King makes William swear an oath to undertake the pilgrimage to Jerusalem on his behalf, to lie his cloak before Christ’s tomb, there is nothing to stop William from leaving England behind. And what an adventure it was.

Elizabeth Chadwick’s The Greatest Knight is one of my all time favourite novels – it is the perfect tale of a medieval knight and none were greater than William Marshal. And nobody in my opinion brings the medieval world to life in full colour like Elizabeth Chadwick. I was so pleased to hear that she was returning to William’s story. This time, though, the focus is on the three years that William spent on pilgrimage. And, apart from the fact that he went, very little is known about this period of his life, which gives Elizabeth Chadwick free rein to use her imagination drawing on her enormous insight and knowledge of the medieval period. The result is a gloriously exciting depiction of some of medieval Europe’s dangerspots, where peril lay around almost every corner and in every town, and most particularly in Constantinople and Jerusalem. The chapters set in Constantinople are such a traumatic highlight of the novel!

The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem was extraordinary, alive with the most astonishing and disturbing personalities, all a gift to fiction, especially the Leper King Baldwin, Guy de Lusignan, the Patriarch and his mistress, the beautiful and charismatic Paschia de Rivieri. It’s wonderful watching William Marshal interacting with all of these people, a witness to the danger of the times, the threat of Saladin, the deception and the plotting. Marshal throws himself into the heart of it all, as you’d expect, and has experiences to last a lifetime. Much of this is speculation, but the result is a grand romance of chivalry, intrigue, violence and passion.

The relationship that I probably enjoyed the most here is that between William and his younger brother Ancel. Little is known about Ancel but Elizabeth Chadwick brings him to such life. I loved these sections. Despite their military prowess, both brothers are shown to be sensitive and refined, the model of knightly values, and so it’s extremely easy to fall in love with them. But we know how this novel must end – it’s set on William’s deathbed after all – and so there are also scenes of great tenderness between William and his wife, children and grandchildren. Expect emotion.

Elizabeth Chadwick has such a gift in the way she surrounds her reader in the past. All the little details of daily life in the Middle Ages are made solid. This is more of a romance than the other William Marshal novels. Much of it is set in an exotic, strange land so far from home and this adds an air of something that touches on fantasy. But, in my favourite sections, it is grounded with these extraordinary historical figures – the story of the Leper King is incredible and extremely distressing. His court’s political intrigue is so fascinating, made even more dangerous because we know Saladin is just waiting for his moment to seize the Holy City. It’s a great setting for William Marshal, who begins as an observer but is soon at the centre of affairs. There’s a strong sense that this is William’s last fling before he returns to England, marriage and ennoblement. He’s determined to make the most of it as he’s let off the historical leash by an author who understands inside out this best of men and the age in which he lived.

Other reviews
Lady of the English
The Summer Queen
The Winter Crown
The Autumn Throne
The Greatest Knight
The Scarlet Lion
The Time of Singing