LoveReading Says
A stirring tale of love and chivalry in medieval England, it is actually a prequel to Lords of White Castle so a good place to start. Despite its quite complicated plot it rips along at a good pace, the sort of book you really miss when you finish it, so bound up are you in the dramatic lives. I think she is terrific, lighter than Philippa Gregory, really a lovely escapist read. She has been shortlisted for the Romantic Novelist’s award four times.
Comparison: Posie Graeme-Evans, Philippa Gregory, Reay Tannahill.
Similar this month: None but try Charlotte Bingham or Judith Lennox.
Sarah Broadhurst
Find This Book In
Shadows and Strongholds Synopsis
A Mediaeval tale of pride and strife, of coming of age in a world where chivalry is a luxury seldom afforded, especially by men of power.
An awkward misfit, loathed by his powerful and autocratic grandmother, nine-year-old Fulke FitzWarin leaves his family to be fostered in the household of Joscelin de Dinan, Lord of Ludlow. Here Fulke will learn knightly arts, but before he can succeed, he must overcome the deep-seated doubts that hold him back.
Hawise FitzWarin is Joscelin's youngest daughter and she befriends Fulke. As they grow up, an implacable enemy threatens Ludlow and as the pressure mounts, their friendship changes until one fateful day they find themselves staring at each other across a divide.
Not only does Fulke have to overcome the shadows of his childhood, he faces a Welsh threat to his family's lands, and the way he feels about Hawise endangers all his hard won confidence. As the menace to Ludlow intensifies, he must either confront the future head on, or fail on all counts, not knowing if Hawise stands with or against him.
About This Edition
About Elizabeth Chadwick
New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Chadwick has written over 20 historical novels sold in 18 languages. Her first novel, The Wild Hunt, won a Betty Trask Award, and The Scarlet Lion was nominated as one of the Top Ten landmark historical novelists of the decade by Historical Novel Society founder Richard Lee. Elizabeth’s nineteenth novel, To Defy a King, won the RNA Historical Novel Prize in 2011. Her latest novels showcase meticulous research into one of medieval history’s most fascinating female figures, brought gloriously to life in this trilogy.
Eleanor of Aquitaine was queen consort of both France and England during her lifetime, as well as being one of the period’s most powerful, wealthy and influential women. The Summer Queen, the first in Chadwick’s compelling series, brings her earliest years to life with sensitivity and evocative detail, coupled with the most up-to-date research. The Winter Crown follows the scandal, politics, sex, triumphs and tragedies of Eleanor’s relationship with King Henry II. The Autumn Throne, published on 1st September 2016, the third novel of the trilogy, brings Eleanor’s epic story to a fitting and exultant close.
Visit her website at www.elizabethchadwick.com
Author photo © Charlie Hopkinson
More About Elizabeth Chadwick
