Medieval Historical Fiction Novel of the Day
Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
Product Details:
Paperback - 720 pages
Publisher - Ballantine Books (1993)
Average Customer Review on Amazon - 5 stars
Novel Description:
Thirteenth-century Wales is a divided country, ever at the mercy of England’s ruthless, power-hungry King John. Then Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, secures an uneasy truce with England by marrying the English king’s beloved, illegitimate daughter, Joanna. Reluctant to wed her father’s bitter enemy, Joanna slowly grows to love her charismatic and courageous husband who dreams of uniting Wales. But as John’s attentions turn again and again to subduing Wales–and Llewelyn–Joanna must decide to which of these powerful men she owes her loyalty and love.
A sweeping novel of power and passion, loyalty and lives, this is the book that began the trilogy that includes Falls the Shadow and The Reckoning.
Chapter One Excerpt:
He was ten years old and an alien in an unfriendly land, made an unwilling exile by his mother’s marriage to a Marcher border lord. His new stepfather seemed a kindly man, but he was not of Llewelyn’s blood, not one of the Cymry, and each dawning day in Shropshire only intensified Llewelyn’s heartsick longing for his homeland.
For his mother’s sake, he did his best to adapt to the strangeness of the English ways. He even tried to forget the atrocity stories that were so much a part of his heritage, tales of English conquest and cruelties. His was a secret sorrow he shared with no one, for he was too young to know that misery repressed is misery all the more likely to fester.
Filed under: Medieval History, Historical Fiction, Fiction on March 11th, 2008
Really excellent novel. Deserves its five star rating. I think the jacket copy rather overplays the romance element. Have you read it?
I haven’t read it yet. It’s on my list. I read a lot, but I don’t get huge blocks of time on my schedule to just sit down and read. Fifteen or thirty minutes here or there. I spend a lot of time at night — after my day job — working on finishing up my novel.
This is one of my all time favorites!
Tanzanite, I’ve heard so many good things about this novel. I’ll have to move it up on my list of books to read.