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Reading Elizabeth Chadwick historicals is one of my guilty pleasures. This is one of her early ones, a stand-alone, but related to 'The Wild Hunt' following a minor character (the son of one of the villains) now grown to manhood having been raised as the ward of Guyon FitzMiles, the hero of the first book. Chadwick now mostly writes fictions involving real life historical characters, usually set between the Norman Conquest and the end of the Plantaganet era, but her first two books were about fictional characters set within a recognisable historical background. Out of print for several years Chadwick admits that she's taken the opportunity of revising the historical background to the new edition to give it the solid historical accuracy of her later books.
So this is a pure historical romance, set in the reign of Henry I at the time he was bringing his recently widowed daughter back from Germany to become heir to his throne and to marry Henry of Anjou (bringing the Plantaganets to England). His daughter was, of course, Mathilda, future mother of Henry II and one half of the Stephen and Mathilda civil war. In this book we see the seeds of that conflict sown with baronial unrest.
But the book is largely fictional historical romance. Adam de Lacey has always loved Guyon's bastard daughter, the half-Welsh Heulewin, but lost her when she married young. Now she's an eligible widow being ardently courted by Warrin de Mortimer and Adam can't bear to lose her a second time.
Wile Heulewen is drawn to Adam, she was badly let down by her late husband, a womaniser who played fast and loose with her affections. Knowing how burning lust isn't enough to sustain a marriage, even though she recognises the strength of her affection for Adam, she prefers a marriage of duty, not of love. She is completely reconciled to marrying Mortimer. It's almost a done deal, but then Adam discovers something about the death of her first husband and potential intrigue against the crown and with dizzying speed everything changes.
No more spoilers, but I heartily recommend Elizabeth Chadwick if, like me, you like a touch of romance with authentic historical background.
So this is a pure historical romance, set in the reign of Henry I at the time he was bringing his recently widowed daughter back from Germany to become heir to his throne and to marry Henry of Anjou (bringing the Plantaganets to England). His daughter was, of course, Mathilda, future mother of Henry II and one half of the Stephen and Mathilda civil war. In this book we see the seeds of that conflict sown with baronial unrest.
But the book is largely fictional historical romance. Adam de Lacey has always loved Guyon's bastard daughter, the half-Welsh Heulewin, but lost her when she married young. Now she's an eligible widow being ardently courted by Warrin de Mortimer and Adam can't bear to lose her a second time.
Wile Heulewen is drawn to Adam, she was badly let down by her late husband, a womaniser who played fast and loose with her affections. Knowing how burning lust isn't enough to sustain a marriage, even though she recognises the strength of her affection for Adam, she prefers a marriage of duty, not of love. She is completely reconciled to marrying Mortimer. It's almost a done deal, but then Adam discovers something about the death of her first husband and potential intrigue against the crown and with dizzying speed everything changes.
No more spoilers, but I heartily recommend Elizabeth Chadwick if, like me, you like a touch of romance with authentic historical background.
