Review
"The romance is slow to build but that makes it all the more believable." - Reviewed by Night Owl Reviews
From the Author
We first met Roger in The Blacksmith's Wife, which ended with the disreputable knight heading to York for one last tournament then planning to go abroad, determined to make his fortune after realizing too late the value of the woman he had spurned. His story was going to end there but readers kept telling me that they wanted to know what happened to him. I, too, became curious to see how the knight who had jousting groupies (to use a slightly anachronistic term) dropping at his feet coped when he didn't have his flashy armor, fine horse and noble connections to tempt them.
Brewing was a female task, with many women making a living as alewives selling from their houses. When I wrote my undergraduate dissertation on "The Changing Role of Inns and Ale Houses in English Rural Society," I never suspected I would get to use the information for writing a book.
Lucy brews so frequently because beer and ale (there is a difference) did not last. An anonymous source from Saxon times wrote "after two days only the bravest or silliest men of the village would drink the ale, but usually it was only fit for pigs." I planned to brew some myself but decided against it, partly because I suspected I'd end up very drunk or very ill and partly because an acquaintance told me I'd need a much bigger bucket!
As always the story has a theme song. Roger chose "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" by Meat Loaf."
Brewing was a female task, with many women making a living as alewives selling from their houses. When I wrote my undergraduate dissertation on "The Changing Role of Inns and Ale Houses in English Rural Society," I never suspected I would get to use the information for writing a book.
Lucy brews so frequently because beer and ale (there is a difference) did not last. An anonymous source from Saxon times wrote "after two days only the bravest or silliest men of the village would drink the ale, but usually it was only fit for pigs." I planned to brew some myself but decided against it, partly because I suspected I'd end up very drunk or very ill and partly because an acquaintance told me I'd need a much bigger bucket!
As always the story has a theme song. Roger chose "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" by Meat Loaf."