Back in the day...

Why do we love historical novels? The historical novel does what all good books do, expand your horizons and creates another world to inhabit. In The Siege Winter by Ariana Franklin, we have all the components of a good story. There is a feisty female heroine to admire and identify with, a terrific sense of place, that is, we can picture how the world feudal England would be to live in, and a suspenseful story.
It recounts two young women's courage during a dark, chaotic era. As civil war devastates mid-twelfth century England, Maud, the 16-year-old chatelaine of Kenniford, weds a boorish older man to save her people. Raped and discarded, Em, a peasant girl from the Cambridgeshire fens, is rescued by an aging mercenary and becomes an expert archer under his tutelage. Their stories converge as Matilda, the previous king's heir, escapes her rival, King Stephen, and seeks shelter at Kenniford. ML