The Ruthless Yeomen
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Isabel of Northfield should be content. Her lot in life is a decent one: Her parents, though villeins, work a fair living from the land of their Norfolk lord, and her modest dowry is enough to earn her husband a holding of his own.
But the flames of dissatisfaction burn within her, fanned by her grandmother's whispers of free blood flowing in her veins. So when her husband dies and her overlord wants her to marry the sinister fisherman, Ufi, she rebels. Isabel has hopes of improving her lot through the Church, but when she throws herself on the mercy of the nearby Redesmarsh Abbey, her dreams end in disaster. Isabel cannot escape the bonds of serfdom and her dreams of freedom will be realized only in her kinswoman, Nicola, who marries Thomas Woodcarver: the first in a line of ruthless yeomen who will do whatever it takes to ensure they are never villeins again.
Beginning in the mid-thirteenth century and culminating in the Peasants' Revolt, The Ruthless Yeomen is a powerful chronicle of individual lives caught up in the tide of English history: a novel that masterfully captures the turbulent spirit of its times.
Praise for Valerie Anand
“Valerie Anand has been building a remarkable body of work, a series of historical novels that have recreated England’s early history both accurately and vividly.”
—The Anniston Star
"With a thoroughgoing knowledge of medieval life and customs, Anand weaves a moving tale of courageous men and women who, though brutalized by their surroundings, nurture the spark of hope."
—Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The family of English serfs whose saga began in The Proud Villeins remains in bondage as Anand continues the series into the latter part of the 13th century. In the village of Rushley, Isabel of Northfield, young wife of Alfred Plowman, envies her beautiful cousin Rohese, who marries a freeman. When Alfred dies in an accident, Isabel seeks to raise her station by entering a nearby abbey, illegally offering as dowry the land to which she is tied. She is accepted for the land, which the venal abbess wrests from its rightful owner, but is turned into a kitchen drudge. An attempt at revenge fails, as does her bid for happiness through a love affair with a freeman. In her old age, she passes on to young kinswoman Nicola a talisman of their family's free ancestor, who was unjustly made a serf before the time of William the Conqueror. The unhappily wed Nicola and her brutal but talented craftsman husband, Thomas Woodcarver, escape bondage through deceit and build the possibility of a better future for their descendants. With a thoroughgoing knowledge of medieval life and customs, Anand weaves a moving tale of courageous men and women who, though brutalized by their surroundings, nurture the spark of hope.
