He clashes with Ragna as she announces she is lord of the Vale of Outhen. Bishop Wynstan lusts to become an archbishop and will crush anyone who stands in his way. Much of the action takes place in Dreng’s Ferry, a tiny hamlet with “half a dozen houses and a church.” Dreng is a venal, vicious ferryman who hurls his slave’s newborn child into a river and is only one of several characters whose death readers will eagerly root for. Weighing the consequences of helping a slave escape, he muses, “Perhaps there were principles more important than the rule of law.” Meanwhile, Lady Ragna is a beautiful French noblewoman who comes to Shiring, marries the local ealdorman, Wilwulf, and starts a family. The young man is a talented builder who has strong personal values. kills Edgar’s one true love, Sungifu, and he vows never to love another-but come on, he’s only 18. Murder, sex, and unholy ambition threaten to overwhelm the glimmers of light in Dark Ages England in this prequel to The Pillars of the Earth (1989).Ī Viking raid in 997 C.E.
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