I'm reviewing The Sea's Edge by Garth Pettersen ...

  ... on my blog today.  This is book four of the Atheling Chronicles.  Read on to find out what I thought ...

It’s quite a while since I’ve read historical fiction that stretches back to the 11^th century.  As a youngster, I moved from a morbid fascination with the ancient worlds of the Egyptian, Incan and Mayan civilisations to the world of the Saxons and the Norsemen before being entrapped by Agatha Christie and her ilk.  Had we had streaming, Netflix, Vikings and The Lost Kingdom back then, I would have been glued to the telly rather than reading.

It made a very refreshing change to pick up a book set in the Early Middle Ages.  It was also great to see a comprehensive glossary of terms at the beginning of the book, along with a list of real historical characters and their inter-relationships with each other.  I found these two items invaluable as I was working through the story.  It was also good to discover that I hadn’t forgotten everything I’d picked up from my early exploration of this period of history!

Despite the list of real characters, this book is a piece of fiction.  However, Pettersen is a retired teacher with a BA in history.  So I couldn’t help wondering how much of the action in the book might have been a possibility he had uncovered in his research for his degree or his series of books.  Having delved into my family history, including the contemporaneous social history, there have been many times when I’ve had a set of information in front of me, my imagination has kicked in, and a story with a natural consequential conclusion has popped into my head.  Perhaps I should invite Mr Pettersen to an author interview here on the blog, and then I could get his take on that.

Beginning in North Wales a little after Yule – that’s the time around Christmas and New Year in modern reckoning, but the actual period of Yule and its importance is still heavily debated – the narrative puts you firmly in the dark past from the very outset.  I liked the inclusion of little period details.  These were sometimes a short description, a single word or a reference to a commonplace tool or practice, all of which contributed to setting the scene and the time.

The action follows the life of Harald, the second son of King Cnute and, therefore, the ‘spare’.  Unlike his older sibling, Harald is not interested in the throne or the workings of his father’s court, but he becomes embroiled in state affairs when Cnute tasks him with curtailing the growing powers of King Rhydderch, who controlled vast tracts of land across Wales.  To take on his foe and succeed, Harald must travel to Ireland and persuade his father’s allies to commit to the cause.

With a reluctant hero in the form of Harald, who prefers the quiet life on his farm with his wife, the idyllic rural setting shifts from peace to battles and full-blown war.  The battle scenes were ruthless and eminently demonstrated the destruction, death and maiming that is always prevalent in what was essentially hand-to-hand combat on an enormous scale.  Does Harald achieve his objective?  Sorry, but you’ll have to read the book for yourself!

The narrative voice was gently paced despite the savageness of some of the scenes.  The characters are interesting, and I was especially drawn to Harald and his wife, Selia.  Insights into their inner thoughts and feelings enable the reader to get close.

Of course, this is book four in the series.  Will I go back and read the first three?  Absolutely.  I want to know where this all started and what I've missed so far.

about the author … Garth Pettersen is an award-winning Canadian writer living in the Fraser Valley near Vancouver, BC, where he and his wife board horses on their farm.  Pettersen has a BA in History from the University of Victoria and is a retired teacher.  His short stories have appeared in anthologies and journals such as Blank Spaces, The Spadina Literary Review, and The Opening Line Literary 'Zine.

Garth's historical fiction series, The Atheling Chronicles, is published by Tirgearr Publishing and is available on most online outlets.  Book four, The Sea’s Edge, has just been released.

about the book ... 1030 C.E.: Harald, the second son of King Cnute—ruler of Engla-lond, Danmark, and Norvegr—with his wife Selia, attempt to live as landholders in Mercia, away from the constraint and intrigues of his father's court.

However, on a rare visit, Cnute tells Harald he's being sent to the Kingdom of Dublin to meet with their Norse-Irish allies. Harald’s mission is to coordinate an invasion of the northern Welsh kingdom of Gwynedd to replace King Rhydderch who is growing too powerful on England’s borders.

Harald is reluctant to be involved in his father-king's affairs of state, and not just because his beloved wife, Selia, is unwell. Harald cannot refuse to go and assures Selia he will not have to take part in the fighting.

Once on his journey, Harold is not drawn to his Norse-Irish allies but comes to respect the foe he must kill.

Will Harald carry out his father-king’s commands to unseat a strong and just rule, or will he tread a more righteous road, which will destroy the life he and Selia have built together?

You can get the book Here

You can follow Garth on his Website on his publisher’s Webpage on Facebook and on Amazon

I'm Off My Beaten Track in Egypt ...

... and sailing on my blog today.  Come and join me as I introduce some of my fellow travellers to you and a new arrival comes aboard ...

SAILING AND A STOWAWAY

I've always been aware that when you have a random group of people together in one place, the majority are happy to go with the flow.  But there's always one who stands out from the others for whatever reason.  It's the same with a bunch of actors.  As a director, you select your cast, you get everyone together to begin rehearsals, and very quickly, the 'difficult one' makes him/herself known.  After nine days on board ship, I've realised that the same principle works for travellers, too!

On sailing days, we have tea at five, and yesterday, some of the cracks in our little community were beginning to show.  It is now quite clear that G— has been gradually and consistently shunned by about a third of my fellow travellers.  B— isn't doing so well in the popularity stakes either, but then she does smoke like a chimney and talks at 275 decibels.  Considering some of the comments she comes out with, I think she must be Uriah Heep's only living relative.  And then there's I— I'm-in-Civil-Engineering-you-know and his South American Queen D— who are fast becoming the ship's snobs.  At tea, it was quite clear that A— of Cumbria, a great tower of a man, had completely reached the end of his tether with I— and his wife D—.

Earlier today, I overheard some of our fellow travellers manoeuvring against some of the above-mentioned.  J— made representations to M— about G—.  J—'s case being that she had been singled out by G— and that he was deliberately sitting at her table in order to annoy her.

'I'm determined to have G—Free meals from today and onwards,' J announced to M— as they meandered along the deck in front of me.  J— and M— agreed that they would sit at a table together hence forward.

Their plan set, and I couldn't wait for lunch to see how well it was implemented.  Later, in the dining room, J— and her husband ensconced themselves at a table for five the moment the dinner gong rang.  She also carefully leaned the back of one of the chairs up against the table to indicate only four places were available.  Shortly afterwards, M— and her husband came into the dining room.

'May we join you?' M— asked politely, knowing full well that it was a foregone conclusion.  Then there was a considerable kerfuffle as the four of them realised that the fifth chair was very accessible to anyone who came to the table, including G—.  Like a game of musical chairs, they all swapped seats so that the fifth chair was in the most inaccessible spot!

I glanced around the room.  Still no G—.   I wondered if he was going to skip lunch today.

Then B—, cigarette in hand, came into the dining room, completely ignored J—'s beckonings, went straight to the immediately adjacent table and promptly sat down.  Next came the affronted mumblings and murmurings between the two tables.  B— drilled her cancer stick into extinction in her portable ashtray and announced at 562 decibels that she 'was staying put'.  And still, there was no G—.

By which time, I was having great difficulty keeping my giggles under control. Everyone seemed to have missed the point. If you do not want to sit with G— you arrange with another couple to sit at a table for four and only four!

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading alone.  Dinner was uneventful and the evening was spent watching Lawrence of Arabia and wondering about the new passenger that we had acquired. He or she was very shy and, in actual fact only K—, a banker from somewhere in the city, and myself were aware that we had a stowaway.

I was happily watching the film when a movement on my left caught my eye.  And there was the new passenger.  A creature of about 8 or 9 inches long with a larger than-normal number of legs, around twenty or so at a guess.  The brown thing - BT for short - took a casual stroll past the bar, stopped to look in for a second or two and then continued with their evening promenade.  K— and I exchanged puzzled looks.

The film continued and, as Lawrence was about to be shunned by the British Government, BT returned from their stroll, cast a sideways glance at the telly, waved both antenna at it and then disappeared into their hiding place behind a large potted plant.

You just never know who you might bump into, do you?

There will be more from my Egypt Journal over the coming weeks.

 
 
 
 
 

Come stroll with me through Pont de l'Arche ...

 ... I'm picking up from where I left you in November last year (you can read that post Here).  We were at the corner of rue André Antoine and a little further down the street is the church … 

And yes, it looks stunning, doesn’t it?  Sitting as it does on the high ground above the river, it completely dominates the town, and it can be seen on the skyline for miles before you get here.  Its position and size lead you to believe, at first sight, that it must be a very important building.  But no, it really is just the local parish church.  Come inside, and I’ll share its history with you.

The church, Notre-Dame-des-Arts, has been in existence since the turn of the 15th century. Transcriptions of the parish accounts show that stone was bought in 1499-1500.  The building, as we see it today, was created very much as a piecemeal project.  In 1501 the first chapel began to be constructed.  The north nave was completed around 1509, the vaulting much later and probably sometime in the 1540s and the south nave was constructed, vaulted and completed towards the end of the following decade.

The design and ornamentation of this edifice are very typical of French Gothic.  But what makes this particular building so interesting is the overall plan.  Unlike most other churches on this scale and of this period, there is only one door in the south-west corner.  In addition, the nave is flanked by aisles on both the north and south sides.  There is no transept or the typically gothic west façade that can be found on any number of churches/cathedrals of the same era.  So, I can’t help but wonder what happened here.  Is this particular building just the result of its piecemeal construction?  Given that most buildings of this size would have taken a number of decades to complete, one would have expected to see many more as uniquely laid out as this one.  Perhaps the real conclusion and explanation is about money - the original plans exceeding the actual funds, and therefore compromises were constantly being made during building.  Whatever the truth, the church deserves more attention because it is, very probably, a bit of a one-off.

Bricks and mortar done with, the story doesn’t end there.  Look at the altarpiece.  It dominates the whole of the interior and is built into a polygonal chapel extending out from the end of the nave.  That’s not so different from many other religious buildings.  But this was added much later and is baroque in style and created during the seventeenth century.  The organ was a gift from Henry 4, who was King of Navarre from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610 when he died.  Henry 4 was the first of the Bourbon Kings.

Take a look at the windows whilst you are here.  They date from either the 16th or 17th centuries.  In particular, look at the two highly coloured windows to one side of the nave. These depict what was probably the major source of income for this sleepy little town with its vast church.  Men are loading and unloading boats at the river at the foot of the town.  After the Hundred Years War (1337-1453), most municipalities in northern France were verging on bankruptcy.  But the river, used for trade along the Seine and the Eure, may have been the reason for this town’s swift rise in prosperity following the end of hostilities.  Maybe that’s where the original income came from in 1499 to enable the purchase of the stone. Perhaps my contention above about the eccentricity of the church and the continuing availability of money is not so very far-fetched!

If you enjoyed reading this post, you might also like to take a stroll with me through Joinville or  Argentan

What's coming up this year ...

A favourite pic, Babacombe

January is a time of year to reflect on the recently ended year and to look forward to whatever the future months might bring.  2023 was a very busy roller-coaster of a year for me.  

There were fantastic highs, Shetland Noir, publication of my books and stories, for example, but there were also some crushing lows, the sudden and unexpected death of an old friend, the serious illness of another long-time friend and the various bits of bad news that seemed to dog me for the final half of last year.  So, it is with some sadness and a little trepidation that I approach this new year of 2024.

The things I can control, this blog, my books, and my travel, are easy. I'm working on the first in a new series of crime stories, and I'm hoping to get the book published later this year.  A new case for Jacques to solve is already being plotted and planned, and that will be out towards the end of the year.  The fourth in the seasonal Paths anthologies will also be published in 2024.  So look out for that, too.

Here on the blog, you can expect book reviews, author interviews and more travel-related pieces.  I will also keep you updated with info about table sales and anything else I'm doing at book festivals as and when I know the details myself.  In the coming weeks, you can expect to hear from Elisabeth Dunleavy, author of No Way Home and Gianette Murray, author of A Supernatural Shindig and a contributor to the Spring Paths anthology.  All of which will be accompanied by some fantastic pics, as always!

So, I wait to see what 2024 can throw my way in the coming months, but I hope you'll join me on my journey...

Just to wish you all...