Is anyone familiar with this author? He has produced a heap of NF history books, but back in the early '90s he appears to have written a few novels with medieval settings.
I've just read one, called Stallion at Sunrise, which is set in 13th century England, and features a young girl who has a talent for raising and breeding horses, encouraged by her father. When he dies she discovers, without his protection, the true helplessness of a woman's lot - from being a relatively independent and valued person, she becomes a pawn in the hands of powerful men. I enjoyed it, and in fact it reminded me a bit of Elizabeth Chadwick's earlier novels.
Blurb
"Injured in the service of the Knights Templar, Richard de Lacey knows he will never again fight the Saracens in the Holy Land.
But he believes he has found a new mission; the ultimate weapon of war. A great stallion from which the Templars can have a race of warhorses that could be decisive in ousting the Saracens from Jerusalem.
A noble Templar knight, King John's relentless pillaging, a wronged heiress, Richard de Lacey's ruthless Templar masters, medieval horse-breeding, and Soloriens the great war horse all feature in this novel set in the thirteenth century."
I've picked up (but haven't yet read) 2 others, Moon in the Morning and Dice in Flight, but don't know if he wrote any others.
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Martyn Whittock
Martyn Whittock
Last edited by annis on Sun August 8th, 2010, 8:09 am, edited 6 times in total.
Sounds interesting. My library has two of his, but I believe those are NF.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be
...is the only place I want to be
Just updating this thread now that I have copies of the other two books and can add the blurbs. Both are set in the late 14th century.
The Dice in Flight (1991)
“For a fleeting moment John Mentmore imagined a gaming board before him. The opponent’s counters hemmed him in, with no way out. Then a terrible cold thought came to him. It was like the first shaft of sunshine on a morning of frost. He suddenly knew what was happening to his family. To his wife and child. A clammy sweat broke out beneath his shirt. Blood beat in his temples. He felt sick. For he was so far from them. So far from home—“
In spring 1381, unrest is at u its height. A new Poll Tax has led to massive tax evasion, and rebel agricultural workers in Essex and Kent are planning an assault on London. The revolt spreads to Suffolk and Hertfordshire, and soon the whole of the south-est is ablaze.
Two families, the Starres and the Mentmores, are caught up in the turmoil of the times, bringing both dynasties perilously close to disaster.
The Moon in the Morning (1992)
At the age of twenty-two, the newly widowed Isabelle Crosse should have found herself a comfortable and wealthy woman, profiting from her husband’s thriving business and his two fenland manors. But her position is being challenged by those of Boston’s merchants who support the claim of her late husband’s bastard son against her, men who, sensing her weakness as a woman alone, believe they can draw advantage from it.
Refusing to take the easy option and settle for less than her due, and against the opposition of her husband’s trading partner, the intelligent and cynical William Curteys, Isabelle succeeds in being recognized as a guildmaster. She then shocks Curteys further by announcing her intention to join him on a trading expedition to the Baltic---
The Dice in Flight (1991)
“For a fleeting moment John Mentmore imagined a gaming board before him. The opponent’s counters hemmed him in, with no way out. Then a terrible cold thought came to him. It was like the first shaft of sunshine on a morning of frost. He suddenly knew what was happening to his family. To his wife and child. A clammy sweat broke out beneath his shirt. Blood beat in his temples. He felt sick. For he was so far from them. So far from home—“
In spring 1381, unrest is at u its height. A new Poll Tax has led to massive tax evasion, and rebel agricultural workers in Essex and Kent are planning an assault on London. The revolt spreads to Suffolk and Hertfordshire, and soon the whole of the south-est is ablaze.
Two families, the Starres and the Mentmores, are caught up in the turmoil of the times, bringing both dynasties perilously close to disaster.
The Moon in the Morning (1992)
At the age of twenty-two, the newly widowed Isabelle Crosse should have found herself a comfortable and wealthy woman, profiting from her husband’s thriving business and his two fenland manors. But her position is being challenged by those of Boston’s merchants who support the claim of her late husband’s bastard son against her, men who, sensing her weakness as a woman alone, believe they can draw advantage from it.
Refusing to take the easy option and settle for less than her due, and against the opposition of her husband’s trading partner, the intelligent and cynical William Curteys, Isabelle succeeds in being recognized as a guildmaster. She then shocks Curteys further by announcing her intention to join him on a trading expedition to the Baltic---