I Am the Chosen King
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- $21.99
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
"A very talented writer." —Sharon Kay Penman, New York Times bestselling author of Devil's Brood
England, 1044. Harold Godwineson, a young, respected Earl, falls in love with an ordinary but beautiful woman. He marries Edyth despite her lack of pedigree, pitting him against his turbulent family and his selfish King, Edward. In France, William, the bastard son of a duke, falls in love with power. Brutal and dangerously smart, William sets his sights on England, finding ambition a difficult lust to conquer.
In 1066, with the old King Edward dying, England falls vulnerable to the winds of fate—and the stubborn will of these two powerful men. 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 last Saxon King, revealing his tender love, determination, and proud loyalty, all shattered by the unforgiving needs of a Kingdom. Forced to give up his wife and risk his life for England, the chosen King led his army into the great Battle of Hastings in October 1066 with all the honor and dignity that history remembers of its fallen heroes.
"A novel of enormous emotional power...Helen Hollick is a fabulous writer of historical fiction." —Elizabeth Chadwick, author of To Defy a King
(This book was previously published in the U.K. as HAROLD THE KING)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hollick (A Hollow Crown) constructs a magnificent epic in this unabashedly pro-Saxon recounting of a turning point in English history. Twenty-two years before the Battle of Hastings, Harold Godwinesson lives happily with his wife in the turbulent era of Edward the Confessor, but as a member of the most powerful noble family in England, Harold is drawn into a political drama that will eventually lead him to assume the rule of England as the last of the Saxon kings. While Edward's Norman associates stir resentment in England, an enemy is consolidating his position across the channel: the ruthless William, duke of Normandy, who considers himself heir to Edward's throne. Hollick's enormous cast and meticulous research combine to create a convincing account of the destructive reign of the hapless Edward and the internecine warfare that weakens England as William prepares to invade. Thanks to Hollick's masterful storytelling, Harold's nobility and heroism enthrall to the point of engendering hope for a different ending to the famous battle of 1066.
