![]() ![]() both gave all they had and all anyone can ask but at the end of the day it was not quite enough. The truth is, of course, that neither failed. Weaving fiction around fact, Julian Rathbone brings to vibrant, exciting, and often amusing life the shadowy figures and events that preceded the Norman. ![]() Walt is telling a story - a story of his failure and, within that, the failure of Harold to preserve England for all time. It is impossible not to feel for the inevitable plight of Harold Godwinson and Rathbone works brilliantly within the historical novelist's great challenge that the reader will always know the outcome of major events underpinning the story. The characterisation is extraordinary - in my mind Rathbone was without peer in this respect. The Last English King is a wonderful re-telling of the events leading up to William the Bastard's invasion of England in 1066 as seen through the eyes of the fantastically real Walt - one of Harold II's housecurls who has spent four years wandering Europe and Asia in shame for having failed his lord in his hour of need. Anyone who appreciates the craft of Bernard Cornwell will, I have no doubt, adore works such as Joseph, Wellington's War, Kings of Albion, A Very English Agent, Birth Of A Nation, etc. OK - I'm using the The Last English King as a reference point for Julian Rathbone's historical canon. ![]()
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