This engrossing historical fiction novel is the third in the Meonbridge Chronicles series, about the inhabitants of a farming village in Hampshire, England, during the 1350s. While they do follow on from each other, each book is a complete story, centred on different main characters, and so this could be easily read as a stand-alone, as there is enough background to understand who’s who. Unlike much HF, this is a dramatic saga with little romance, and doesn’t pretend to be based on actual historical events or people.
This one is largely about the De Bohun family, who were introduced in Fortune’s Wheel, and is set about eight years after that story, when Richard, the respected Lord and his wife Margaret lost their son and heir Philip. With their daughter Johanna having entered a convent, their only remaining descendant is seven year old Dickon, Philip’s illegitimate son with a village girl. In order to prevent their land falling into the hands of Richard’s evil cousin Morys Boune, they hatch a plan to pass Dickon off as the legitimate heir, but are betrayed by the ambitions of Margaret’s companion, Matilda, who wants the handsome younger Boune son to marry her when he inherits the estate.
Brilliantly written and researched, this series vividly captures medieval life of ordinary people, their fears and dreams, and the complexities of the hierarchical social system. This had a smaller cast of characters than the earlier books, and a faster pace, which made the story easier to follow, and had a compelling plot where the suspense was in how it would all turn out, rather than whodunnit. The villains were suitably diabolical as they hatched their plots, and the way the Meonbridge villagers stood up for their Lord actually very moving. I thoroughly enjoyed this and look forward to the next instalment.
My thanks to Carolyn Hughes for the arc which allowed me to give an honest review.
- File Size: 2620 KB
- Print Length: 394 pages
- Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
- Publisher: Riverdown Books; 1 edition (May 3, 2019)
- Publication Date: May 3, 2019
- Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B07R5G2YBX
- Text-to-Speech:
Enabled
- Word Wise: Enabled
- Lending: Not Enabled
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#74,308 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #4034 in Historical Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #24628 in Genre Literature & Fiction
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