I was given this book to read and loved it! It was real and vivid and brought early England into sharp focus. The book is soundly based in historical fact. It doesn't slip into the realms of "historical romance" - keeping a firm eye on the facts without losing sight of the people that inhabit the book.
Ranulf is a strong hard character, torn between his duty to the King and his love for his pregnant girlfriend Alice.
The King himself is a complex and confused person. He to is pulled taut between his love for his country and his kingship, and an oath torn from him by William the Bastard.
The scenes evoked in the battle scenes are many, the blood lust, the noise, the pain but mostly the feeling of revulsion at the wanton waste of life.
Read this book you'll love it !
A reader from Lancashire, England