The Swordsman of Calais edition by Joe Harding Literature Fiction eBooks
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‘My dear friend. I know not how long I shall live hereafter, nor do I fear death. But I fear the manner of my passing and those, mine enemies who have the ear and heart of my husband, their cruelty I fear very much. My husband, in his mercy has granted me leave to seek you and hire your services.
I dare to address you in terms of affection, for I believe that you parted from me in much bitterness. Therefore I beg you, as a good Christian man to lay aside any resentment and to remember the sweet times we shared together. I beg you too, on my bended knees to show me mercy. My dear friend Elinor will pay passage for you to accompany her and her men-at-arms to be with me, should God permit, in my final hours.
Written this eighth day of May
Anne Boleyn, Queen of England.’
Jean Rombaud, swordsman and executioner, receives a commission from the disgraced Queen of England to end her life swiftly. And so begins a journey that will test his resolve to the uttermost.
Elinor Lee, close friend and confidante to Queen Anne struggles to fulfil her friend's wish, increasingly aware of her own divided loyalties and the realisation that Jean is an unstable and haunted man.
Set against the backdrop of the Reformation, with the spread of the printed word, and the challenges it presented to the centuries-old Establishment, the story tells of the lengths men and women would go to in order to acquire the book that would rock the Church to its foundation - the Bible in English.
The Swordsman of Calais edition by Joe Harding Literature Fiction eBooks
I came to this book already admiring Joe Harding's style, and nothing in it changed my mind. At first I was confused by the rapid shifts of narrator and lack of formal chapter breaks, but I quickly realised it was necessary to show how the key characters interacted while casting a light on the rest of the society they lived in. The insights of an executioner, a Bible trafficker and dissenter, a fanatical monk, and of course the queen herself all go together to tell a tale of England that no one person could tell, and the book is better for it. Each character has their own first person narrative, containing everything from throw-away thoughts to the very depths of their soul (the fanatical monk is particularly chilling to read). It also shows the joys and dangers of trying to reform a deeply entrenched religious system, with Tyndale's Bibles and teaching and the freedom of women strongly contrasting with a controlled society. While the author doesn't officially judge any of the views, the dissenting views are presented with great warmth and I suspect he has a lot of sympathy with them. They aren't the normal view we get of Tudor England.The book is part a complicated love story, part a journey, part an action story, part an evaluation of past history, part a religious treatise, and all difficult to put down. Being the first part of a trilogy, it does end on a cliff hanger. If you enjoy it, expect to want to get the second one (I had it within a week of reading the first one).
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The Swordsman of Calais edition by Joe Harding Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
First this book is very well researched. We are so used to the glossy, almost 'photoshopped' version of Tudor history on our TV screens, we often forget the dirt and the misery in which most people lived.
And a great deal of that misery stemmed from religion, chiefly the Catholic Church, then the established Church in Britain which extorted, and that is the word that needs to be used, huge sums from the poor whilst living in considerable style.
Into this noxious mix add Anne Boleyn and her ambitious father, who aims high for his daughter, and succeeds beyond his dreams.
From these facts Joe Harding has created a drama which keeps the reader in suspense as a colourful parade of expertly drawn characters cross and recross until the tapestry the author has woven is so deep and rich that, even though the reader will know the ending, it still comes as an emotional shock.
A love story and a historical novel which makes for many hours of reading, wrapped in a different view of the tale we know so well.
Highly recommended.
I came to this book already admiring Joe Harding's style, and nothing in it changed my mind. At first I was confused by the rapid shifts of narrator and lack of formal chapter breaks, but I quickly realised it was necessary to show how the key characters interacted while casting a light on the rest of the society they lived in. The insights of an executioner, a Bible trafficker and dissenter, a fanatical monk, and of course the queen herself all go together to tell a tale of England that no one person could tell, and the book is better for it. Each character has their own first person narrative, containing everything from throw-away thoughts to the very depths of their soul (the fanatical monk is particularly chilling to read). It also shows the joys and dangers of trying to reform a deeply entrenched religious system, with Tyndale's Bibles and teaching and the freedom of women strongly contrasting with a controlled society. While the author doesn't officially judge any of the views, the dissenting views are presented with great warmth and I suspect he has a lot of sympathy with them. They aren't the normal view we get of Tudor England.
The book is part a complicated love story, part a journey, part an action story, part an evaluation of past history, part a religious treatise, and all difficult to put down. Being the first part of a trilogy, it does end on a cliff hanger. If you enjoy it, expect to want to get the second one (I had it within a week of reading the first one).
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