Essex Dogs
The epic Richard & Judy Summer Book Club Pick 2023 from a Sunday Times bestselling historian
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3.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
The BBC History 2022 Book of the Year and Richard & Judy Book Club Pick from Sunday Times bestselling author Dan Jones.
July 1346. The Hundred Years' War has begun, and King Edward and his lords are on the march through France. But this war belongs to the men on the ground.
Swept up in the bloody chaos, a tight-knit company from Essex must stay alive long enough to see their home again. With sword, axe and longbow, the Essex Dogs will fight, from the landing beaches of Normandy to the bloodsoaked field of Crécy.
There's Pismire, small enough to infiltrate enemy camps. Scotsman, strong enough to tear down a wall. Millstone, a stonemason who'll do anything to protect his men. Father, a priest turned devilish by the horrors of war. Romford, a talented young archer on the run from his past. And Loveday FitzTalbot, their battle-scarred captain, who just wants to get his boys home safe.
Some men fight for glory. Others fight for coin. The Essex Dogs? They fight for each other.
Praise for Essex Dogs:
'A book that draws you in page by page. The way Dan Jones writes enemies reminds me of Cornwell at his best, turning up tension click by click.' Conn Iggulden
'A new champion has entered the front line of historical fiction to stand shoulder to shoulder with Bernard Cornwell.' Jane Johnson
'Battle-bloody, brutal and perfectly pitched.' Daily Mail
'Vital, earthy, and heart-stopping.' Suzannah Lipscomb
'The soldiers' lives are rather brilliantly recreated – the kit, the fighting, the boredom and discomfort.' The Times
'Only Dan Jones can carry you through blood, piss and vomit and leave you wanting more.' Daisy Dunn
'A cast of unforgettable characters.' Simon Sebag Montefiore
'Simply stunning.' Duff McKagan, New York Times No1 bestselling author of It's So Easy, and founder member of Guns N' Roses
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist and historian Jones (The Plantagenets) makes his fiction debut with a rousing story of the Hundred Years War, the first in a projected trilogy. It's 1346, and veteran trooper Loveday FitzTalbot leads his 10-man mercenary band, the Essex Dogs, onto the beaches at Normandy as part of the English invasion of France. Being on the vanguard of the 15,000-strong invasion force, the Dogs are first into the cities being sacked on the way to conquer Paris. During reprieves from stiff resistance, they loot churches and steal mood-elevating powders from apothecaries. Loveday and his men also find a secondary enemy in a rival warband of East Anglians, whose bloodthirsty men hound them at every turn. Finally, the heavily outnumbered English square off with the French at the battle of Crecy, with Loveday and the surviving Dogs in the thick of it. Vivid characterizations and a strain of black humor add to the pointed drama (at one point, a particularly odious fighter loses his nose on the battlefield, and all those around him are relieved when he finally faints and stops screaming). Brutal, graphic, and gory, the battle scenes viscerally hurl the reader into the heat of 14th-century combat. It's good to know these Dogs will howl again.
