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Review
A rattling good story and with a plot which is gripping...superb, unforgettable (SPECTATOR )
Rathbone is a very clever writer.. scenes of such solidity no reader will easily forget them (TIMES )
A triumph... if there are echoes of I, CLAUDIUS that is a high compliment (INDEPENDENT )
A magnificent historical novel to stand alongside Rose Tremain's RESTORATION ('One of the very best story-tellers around’ ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Rathbone is a very clever writer.. scenes of such solidity no reader will easily forget them (TIMES )
A triumph... if there are echoes of I, CLAUDIUS that is a high compliment (INDEPENDENT )
A magnificent historical novel to stand alongside Rose Tremain's RESTORATION ('One of the very best story-tellers around’ ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
TIMES
'Rathbone is a very clever writer.. scenes of such solidity no reader will easily forget them'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a super book, a must for those interested in Anglo-Saxon England and the events of 1066. The characterisation is first class, and never becomes overblown - both Walt and Quint are quite believable characters.
The characterisation of Harold is a most impressive achievment, and the reader who does not feel sympathetic towards him has a heart of stone. It also highlighted areas of Saxon history that I was unaware of, I had never heard, for example,of Edith Swan Neck - but she has perhaps the most beautiful name I have ever encountered.
Read this, you will not be disappointed.
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Whilst I appreciate that it's a cliche, this really is an unputdownable book. The author cleverly uses an actual historical happening, (the Battle of Hastings and events leading up to the Norman Conquest) to weave an engrossing work of fiction. I especially enjoyed the way one of the characters comes out with ideas way ahead of his time. Among other interesting facts we discover why England ended up with the patron saint of George, despite him having no obvious connection with this 'green & pleasant land'.
Several parts of the book are laugh out loud funny. The characters are exceptionally three dimensional so you feel as if you know them personally. Despite the comic nature of the book, one feels a certain amount of sadness as the historical events familiar to all English people of 1066, draw to their conclusion. It certainly helps you appreciate that English history took on a radically different texture after the conquest.
In all, an entertaining, slightly educational book that led me to read several other of the authors novels.
Several parts of the book are laugh out loud funny. The characters are exceptionally three dimensional so you feel as if you know them personally. Despite the comic nature of the book, one feels a certain amount of sadness as the historical events familiar to all English people of 1066, draw to their conclusion. It certainly helps you appreciate that English history took on a radically different texture after the conquest.
In all, an entertaining, slightly educational book that led me to read several other of the authors novels.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a well written and entertaining book. The book places very modern English words in the mouths of Saxon Earls, Thegns and the like. Attempts at more apposite anachronysms (such as a thinly veiled allusion to Bob Dylan) whilst humorous do not really work. The topic of the book has as much relevance at the end of the millenium as it did at the start - We (the English / Saxons) don't want them (the Europeans / Normans) coming over here and disrupting the status quo.The big question is whether the results will be the same this time round.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Disappointing
The story of 1066 is well known and has been quasi-fictionalised by many authors. While Rathbone's version contains some fairly unique and somewhat idealised aspects of pre-Norman... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Maurice Halton
Ghastly.
I've tried to read this author once before, some years ago. In this book I got as far as about 20 pages and kept having to re-read passages over and over and over again. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mrs. C. M. Jagger
well-written and enjoyable
Although Saxon history is not an area I knew a great deal about before reading this book, from the reading I have done since it would appear that the majority of the events in the... Read more
Published on 18 Nov 2009 by Feasel 81
I Liked it in Spite of Myself
Julian Rathbone, in his introduction, indicates that he uses some cultural anachronisms because they amuse him, and he hopes that they will amuse his readers, as well. Read more
Published on 29 Nov 2008 by Graceann Macleod
Brilliant read
I found this novel impossible to put down. It's very well paced and the characters are vivid and believable. Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2008 by pincushion
fantastic!
One of the best pieces of historical fiction I've ever read - wonderfully entertaining, and thoroughly researched. Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2008 by Gary Sparrow
What historical fiction should be
I absolutely loved it! I can't think of another historical novel that let me inhabit the world of the characters the way this one did. Read more
Published on 11 April 2007 by Four-eyes
A marvellous and enlightening read
I am no expert on 11th Century history so I will not dipute the merits of the novel on historical grounds. Read more
Published on 16 Jan 2007 by kingrizla2000
Not recommended
I'm sure Mr Rathbone is a perfectly good writer, but this book is not one I would recommend. There are some glaring problems... Read more
Published on 10 Aug 2006 by Mac
They were English, but not as we know them
It is about time reviewers stopped describing the Anglo-Saxons as English in inverted commas. Having found the word "English" in archaic forms in Old English dictionaries, it is... Read more
Published on 14 Jun 2005 by Harold Godwinson
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