The Gleemaiden, similar to a minstrel, keeps a motley bunch amused on the road to Durham as a church bell needs transporting, but there is a sinister side to the journey too. In a gentle, fun tale with poignant moments and the brutality of the age, we conclude this medieval trilogy begun with The Bone-Pedlar, quite able to be read on its own.. Comparisons: Ellis Peters, Tracy Chevalier, Sharon Penman. Similar this month: Will Davenport, Posie Graeme-Evans.
This is Sylvian Hamilton’s third novel featuring the exploits of Sir Richard Straccan, ex-Crusader and dealer in holy relics. At the end of The Pendragon Banner, Straccan had lost the woman he loved – captured by his enemies, now being held God-knows where. His first task in The Gleemaiden is to find her. His second, to escort the great bell, Gaudete, to its resting place in Durham. His third to save from her enemies the Gleemaiden of the title and the mysterious child she protects.
Marvellously untouched by twelve years of formal education, Sylvian Hamilton has been at different times a secretary, mother, lexicographer, journalist, farmer, second-hand book seller and antiques dealer. She is a devoted Star Trek fan. Since arthritis clipped her wings, she spends much of her time at home, a tiny cottage in the Scottish border country, with a very patient husband, two cats and about five thousand books.
