The year is 1342 in the sleepy coastal English town of Hookton when marauders attack and steal a precious relic. Thomas, a young archer, is the only survivor. With his father’s dying breath, he has given Thomas a mission to carry out, retrieve the relic, and avenge his family’s honor. The hunt for the man responsible takes Thomas to France during the beginning of the conflict that will be known as the Hundred Years’ War. Can Thomas of Hookton find the relic he was tasked to find or will another quest drag him into an even darker path? Thomas’s tale begins in the first book of the Grail Quest trilogy by Bernard Cornwell called, “The Archer’s Tale.”
I found this particular book in a used bookstore and it caught my eye. I have enjoyed the Saxon Stories series by Bernard Cornwell and so when I saw that he had written a trilogy set during the Hundred Years’ War, I was intrigued. I wanted to see how well he would tackle the medieval period and the conflict between England and France.
We begin with the massacre of Hookton, which happened in the early hour of Easter morning 1342. The prize that the raiders are after is the lance that St. George used to slay the dragon, or that’s the story that Father Ralph tells the town. His illegitimate son Thomas is given the task of recovering the lance for a man wearing black armor with a blue and yellow standard who happened to be Thomas’s cousin. As there is nothing left for Thomas in Hookton, he decides to join Will Skeat and his archers in France as they fight for King Edward III and his son Edward the Black Prince. It is in Brittany that Thomas is introduced to the Blackbird, a female archer whose true identity is Jeanette the widowed Countess of Armorica who is trying to protect her young son, the new Count of Armorica from the English.
After saving Jeanette from a complicated situation, Thomas is on the run for killing a man. It is while he is on the run that his life is saved by a Jewish doctor and in return, Thomas saves the life of a girl named Eleanor. This girl is the illegitimate daughter of Sir Guillaume d’Evecque, a French nobleman who was with the black armored man who attacked Hookton. They both have a grudge against the man, but Sir Guillaume offers Thomas a different quest, which is to find the Holy Grail, the same relic the man in black armor is searching for. Thomas decides that he must help his friends in the English army as they face off against the French army in the battle that will be known as the Battle of Crecy.
As someone who is a fan of the Saxon Stories series, I felt like Thomas of Hookton was very much like Uhtred of Bebbanburg in the way that he is on a long quest for revenge, but he discovers that he is destined for a bigger purpose and an even more deadly path. I found myself enjoying the way Cornwell portrays medieval England and France during this conflict and I am looking forward to seeing where Thomas of Hookton will go next and if he will get his revenge and recover the Holy Grail. If you love medieval tales full of adventure and action, you should check out the first book in The Grail Quest, “The Archer’s Tale” by Bernard Cornwell.
I am pleased to welcome Julia Ibbotson to my blog today to share a spotlight for her novel, “The Dragon Tree.” I want to thank Julia Ibbotson and The Coffee Pot Book Club for allowing me to be part of this blog tour. 
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Author Bio
The year is 1346 and war has just begun between France and England. This conflict would be known as the Hundred Years War, which lasted over 116 years and ended in failure for the English. However, some glorious moments like Agincourt gave the English cause to celebrate, but none more so than the Battle of Crecy. It was a colossal battle between five European kings, leaving countless dead on the field without many long-term rewards. So how did the French and English armies meet on the field of Crecy and what truly happened? Michael Livingston dives deep into the archives and archaeological research to tell the truth of this famous battle in his book, “Crecy: Battle of Five Kings.”
The Crusades were conflicts predominantly focused on the stories of knights, kings, popes, Christians, and Muslims. We have some stories of women like Eleanor of Aquitaine who joined their husbands in battle. However, some women’s stories tend to get lost in the sands of the past. Take, for example, Eleanor of Aquitaine’s daughter-in-law, Berengaria of Navarre, the wife of Richard the Lionheart. Amid the Third Crusades, she must join Eleanor of Aquitaine on a treacherous journey to meet her husband while he battles for Jerusalem. Can Richard and Berengaria survive the journey to and from the Holy Land and produce the desired heir for the English throne before their enemies can claim victory? Carol McGrath has chosen to tell the tale of the forgotten queen Berengaria of Navarre in her latest novel, “The Lost Queen.”
Author Bio – Following a first degree in English and History, Carol McGrath completed an MA in Creative Writing from The Seamus Heaney Centre, Queens University Belfast, followed by an MPhil in English from the University of London. The Handfasted Wife, first in a trilogy about the royal women of 1066 was shortlisted for the RoNAS in 2014. The Swan-Daughter and The Betrothed Sister complete this highly acclaimed trilogy. Mistress Cromwell, a best-selling historical novel about Elizabeth Cromwell, wife of Henry VIII’s statesman, Thomas Cromwell, was republished by Headline in 2020. The Silken Rose, the first in a medieval She-Wolf Queens Trilogy, featuring Ailenor of Provence, saw publication in April 2020. This was followed by The Damask Rose. The Stone Rose was published in April 2022. Carol is writing Historical non-fiction as well as fiction. Sex and Sexuality in Tudor England was published in February 2022. The Stolen Crown 2023 and The Lost Queen will be published on 18th July 2024. Carol lives in Oxfordshire, England, and in Greece.
The world of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table is filled with stories of adventures and romance. Many authors have tried to tell these tales in a way that will allow their books to live for centuries, but none were more successful than Sir Thomas Malory and his book Le Morte Darthur. King Arthur, Lady Guinevere, Sir Lancelot, Merlin, and Sir Gawain embark on numerous adventures including the Lady of the Lake, Camelot, the sword Excalibur, and the Quest for the Holy Grail. These tales were the epitome of chivalry and valiant knights in shining armor, but the author behind them was anything but perfect. Sir Thomas Malory has had his fair share of time in a prison cell. Who was Sir Thomas Malory and why did his book about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table still resonate with readers centuries after it was written? In his latest novel, “A Good Deliverance,” Toby Clements hopes to reveal the truth of this famous author whose story has been overshadowed by the myths he wrote down in his legendary tome.
I am pleased to welcome Anna Chant to my blog today to share a spotlight for her novel, “Courage of the Conquered.” I would like to thank The Coffee Pot Book Club and Anna Chant for allowing me to be part of this blog tour.
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Author Bio
The year is 1480 and King Edward IV sits firmly on the throne, yet the Lancasterian threat lurks in the shadow. Things have taken a drastic turn for Sebastian Foxley’s workshop and his family. It has been months since a fire destroyed the Foxley home and workshop, which also left his brother Jude injured. Seb has decided now would be the perfect time to go on a pilgrimage to Canterbury to pray at the shrine of St Thomas Becket. The pilgrimage had its perils on paper before even setting out on the road. What terrors await Seb and his monty crew of pilgrims and can they survive the trip? Toni Mount’s twelfth Sebastian Foxley Medieval Murder, “The Colour of Sin,” takes our hero on a journey beyond the streets of his beloved London into a wider world full of intrigue.
Like many other countries, England has been through growing pains when it comes to reforming its political, military, and judicial systems. None more so than the pains of the medieval period, specifically from 1199 to 1399. In those two centuries, there were six Plantagenet kings, each with a different style of being king and a different way of changing England with each reign. We often think that the biggest change to England’s political history during this time was the Magna Carta, but in fact, that was only just the beginning. Caroline Burt and Richard Partington have combed the archives to do a deep dive into each reign of these Plantagenet kings, examining the political and judicial changes that happened in a short period. Their comprehensive book is entitled, “Arise, England: Six Kings and the Making of the English State.”
When we think about travel in the Middle Ages, we often think of wealthy nobles or those who went to war fighting in foreign lands. However, that is merely a misconception. Travel was open to everyone, from the wealthy, the poor, the pious pilgrims, and the merchants. Each group had their reasons for traveling to different countries. Still, they all wrote down their experiences to tell future generations about their encounters and encourage others to explore the world, both the known and unknown parts. Anthony Bale has compiled many of these accounts into one comprehensive book called, “A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Medieval Eyes.”
The field of history for centuries has been focused on men and the struggles that mankind has had to endure for society to survive. We tend to get only a mere glimpse at the lives of women when they are next to powerful men. Some will write about women, mostly royal women, who lead extraordinary lives and left an imprint on the past. But what about those who lived ordinary lives? What about the women who lived daily, fighting to survive every obstacle? What can we learn about history through the eyes of ordinary women? Philippa Gregory has taken on the mammoth task of trying to answer these questions and more with her tome, “Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History.”
Adventures of a Tudor Nerd 