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Monday 14 October 2024

Stepping Back Into The Past... with King Harold II and the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings 14th October


“Helen Hollick has it all! She tells a great story, gets her history right, and writes consistently readable books”
Bernard Cornwell

“A novel of enormous emotional power”
Elizabeth Chadwick





Harold the King (UK title) 

I Am the Chosen King : (US/Canada title)

About the Book

Two men. One crown. The story of the events that led to the year 1066, the most famous date in English History.

England, 1044. Harold Godwinesson, a young, respected earl, falls in love with an ordinary but beautiful woman. In Normandy, William, the bastard son of a duke, falls in love with power.

In 1066 England falls vulnerable to the fate of these two men: one, chosen to be a king, the other, determined to take, by force, what he desires.

Risking his life to defend his kingdom from foreign invasion, Harold II led his army into the great Battle of Hastings in October 1066 with all the honour and dignity that history remembers of its fallen heroes.

In this beautifully crafted tale, Helen Hollick sets aside the propaganda of the Norman Conquest and brings to life the English version of the story of the man who was the last Anglo-Saxon king, revealing his tender love, determination and proud loyalty, all to be shattered by the desire for a crown – by one who had no right to wear it.

“Hollick constructs a magnificent epic in this unabashedly pro-Saxon recounting of a turning point in English history. Thanks to masterful storytelling, Harold's nobility and heroism enthral to the point of engendering hope for a different ending to the famous battle of 1066.” Publishers Weekly

“Whether the events described actually happened is unimportant, that the reader feels instinctively that they could have happened is the sign of a superior novel. This is a fabulous read and one to be recommended unreservedly – even to committed ‘Williamites’. If only all historical fiction could be this good." Historical Novel Society Reviews


Read An Excerpt

Harold watched almost dispassionately as the tidal wave of men rolled forward again. The front line of cavalry and infantry were protected with high-held shields; archers were placed at the rear. Slower on this occasion, not tiring themselves, respecting the disrupted state of the ground, the slope of the hill and their own exhaustion, the Normans trundled nearer. It would  take a while for them to reach the top could something be done to slow them more?

“He is a formidable man.” Harold admitted to his personal bodyguard. “And a rare one, for he uses his brain to seek solutions to a problem. Pass word that we will at last require our archers set them to the front but they are to be ready to step back as soon as the line is approached. The shield wall must be held!”

The abuse hurled by the English was as searing as any barbed arrow,   but words could not maim or injure, unlike the hail of missiles that was propelled downwards. Arrows first, then anything that could be thrown. Clods of turf, severed limbs, dead men’s boots. The head of a horse, even apple cores and empty ale skins. Anything, everything to deflect the attention of the Norman ranks. A man would duck his head, raise his shield arm at something that flew through the air from a waiting battle line. It might only be the harmless, shrivelled core of an apple, but it could be a dagger blade…The Norman advance shook, but only briefly; it came onwards. The English reset their shields, braced their legs and shoulders, and waited.

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Part of the battlefield as it is today

where the English shield wall stood




OR...
Do you want to read some alternative endings 
to the events that happened in 1066?


1066 Turned Upside Down:

Harold the King (UK title) 

I Am the Chosen King : (US title)




STEP INTO THE PAST WITH 

3rd October J G (Jane) Harlond
4th October Susan Grossey
5th October Carol Westron
6th October Samantha Wilcoxson
7th October  Annie Whitehead
8th October  Debra Swift
9th October  Joan Fallon Cook
10th October Judith Arnopp
11th October Anna Belfrage
12th October Elizabeth St.John
13th October Nancy Jardine
14th October Helen Hollick
15th October Derek Birks
16th October Cathie Dunn
17th October Amy Maroney
18th October Tony Riches
19th October Cryssa Bazos

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THE SAXON SERIES

The story of the events that led to
The Battle of Hastings in 1066

Harold the King (UK edition)
I Am The Chosen King (US edition)
1066 Turned Upside Down
an anthology of 'What If'' tales
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The Forever Queen (US edition)
a USA TODAY BESTSELLER
A Hollow Crown (UK edition)

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KING ARTHUR
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 The Boy Who became a Man:
Who became a King:
Who became a Legend... 

THE PENDRAGON's BANNER TRILOGY 

US editions

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Historical Stories of Exile by 13 popular authors 
Cryssa Bazos, Anna Belfrage, Elizabeth Chadwick, Cathie Dunn, 
J.G. Harlond, Helen Hollick, Loretta Livingstone, Amy Maroney 
Alison Morton, Charlene Newcomb, Elizabeth St.John, 
Marian L Thorpe, Annie Whitehead.
With an introduction by Deborah Swift

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Amazon: FREE ebook!

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NON-FICTION


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3 comments:

  1. Agh! Boy, did I cry when I read your Harold... (I'm starting to feel a bit teary-eyed just thinking about it)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. _SO_ hard to write it! I had meant to write a few more chapters about the aftermath - couldn't do it.

      Delete
  2. Fabulous excerpt -- such an immersive depiction of war in Harold's time. I was there!

    ReplyDelete

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