The Proud Villeins (Bridges Over Time) - Softcover

Anand, Valerie; Buckley, Fiona

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1628153970 ISBN 13: 9781628153972

Publisher: Speaking Volumes, LLC, 2016

Synopsis

When Ivon de Clairpont lies down for the night by the blacksmith's fire at Gildenford, sleep does not come easily. The great Norman knight knows himself to be an unwelcome visitor in England, for he is a member of the large party traveling with Alfred Atheling, an exiled son of the deposed English king. Ivon's intuition proves correct, for the evening in Gildenford is his last as a free man.

In darkness, Ivon and his fellows are assaulted and taken hostage by soldiers loyal to England's current ruler. And in the morning, Alfred's followers are systematically executed—until only a handful of their original six hundred remain. Ivon is one of the few survivors, but, to his mind, his is a state worse than death: The once-powerful knight is sold as a slave to Eric Olafson and put to work on the Dane's farm in isolated Northumbria.

Refusing to accept a life of servitude, Ivon ceaselessly plots his escape. After one particularly harrowing attempt to flee, he is nursed back to health by Gunnor, a young bondswoman who is determined to make him her own. With Gunnor's help, Ivon begins to accept the fate that has made him a thrall, but he never forsakes his only inheritance: the memory of freedom.

For Ivon's descendants, this legacy is a bitter blessing. The knowledge of a glorious past rules the dreams of future de Clairponts—who must live with the results of their determination to return the family to what it once was.

About this title

About the Author:

Valerie Anand (aka Fiona Buckley) is a British author of historical fiction. Under the pen name Fiona Buckley she writes the series of historical mysteries, set in the reign of Elizabeth I of England, featuring "Ursula Blanchard" (whose full name is Ursula Faldene Blanchard de la Roche Stannard). Under her own name she writes historical fiction based on the royalty of England and the Bridges over Time series which follows a family from the eleventh century through the nineteenth century. Praise for Valerie Anand “Valerie Anand has been building a remarkable body of work, a series of historical novels that have recreated England’s history both accurately and vividly.” —The Anniston Star (The Proud Villeins) “Anand’s interest is in the intersection of cultures—here, Norse and Norman—which she dramatizes effectively.” —Kirkus Reviews (The Proud Villeins)

From Kirkus Reviews:

Herein, the commencement of a series by the author of such historical divertissements as Crown of Roses and King of the Wood (both 1989). This time out, Anand picks up in 1036, when a company of French knights makes a pre-Conquest crossing of the Channel in an effort to wrest the English throne from the progeny of Cnut. The result is disastrous, a massacre with only a handful of Frenchmen spared to be sold into slavery--among them Sir Ivon de Clairpont, who becomes the thrall of Eric Olafson in Northumbria. Ivon tries to run away three times, and then to kill himself--but a wench with hair the color of a fox seduces him, and he ``did what he had sworn he would never do...gave his seed to Gunnor the thrall and his line to the future, in a country not his own.'' Ivon is elderly by the time William the Conqueror's troops march in, and, alas, his son, another Ivon, so loathes the slaughtering French that he refuses to reveal the fact that he's French too, thus ensuring that his get will live as slaves--or ``villeins,'' as they were called in the 11th century. And at the end, the second Ivon's granddaughter, Margaret, misses out on freedom as well when her love is hanged, though the Magna Carta's just been signed, bespeaking the coming of a new era. Anand's interest is in the intersection of cultures--here, Norse and Norman--which she dramatizes effectively. But she moves too quickly from one generation to the next, resulting in cartoony characters and a historical backdrop that flies by like a movie on fast forward. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Speaking Volumes, LLC
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1628153970
• ISBN 13: 9781628153972
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 324